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HISTORY OF EUROPE 



FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 



FRENCH REVOLUTION 



IN 1789, TO THE 



RESTORATION OF THE BOUEBONS 



IN 18 15. 



BY ARCHIBALD ALISON, F.R.S.E. 



ADVOCATE. 



.A>!o.jLi. 



ABRIDGED FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION: 

FOR THE USE OF GENERAL READERS, COLLEGES, ACADEMIES, AND OTHER SEMI- 
NARIES OF learning: 

BY. EDWARD S. GOULD. 



V 



NEW-YORK: 

J. WINCHESTER, NEW WORLD PRESS, 
XXX ANN-STREET. 




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•43 




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[entered according to act of congress, by J. WINCHESTER, IN THE 
YEAR 1843, IN THE CLERk's OFFICE OF THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF 
NEW-YORK.] 



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THIS VOLtTWB 



IS INSCRIBED TO 



THE HONORABLE ROGER MINOT SHERMAN, LL.D., 



AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE TO 



HIS WORTH, HIS TALENTS, AND HIS FAME, 



HIS FRIEND AND RELATIVE, 



EDWARD S. GOULD, 



PREF ACE. 



Alison's History of Europe is the most voluminous work of the day ; it 
employed its author twenty-eight years in study and composition ; it contains 
more than double the reading matter of Scott's Napoleon, occupies ten large 
octavos, and fills between eight and nine thousand pages : such a work — at what- 
ever price it may be published — is sealed to the general reader, as well as to 
colleges, academies, and other seminaries of learning. The editor of this volume 
has therefore undertaken to place before his countrymen, within a compass that 
all may have leisure to read and means to purchase, a condensed account of that 
eventful period which Mr. Alison styles the era of Napoleon. 

With this object in view, the editor has, as he believes, extracted every material 
fact from Mr. Alison's work, adding nothing of his own in the way of opinion, 
argument, or assertion, and endeavoring to present the original narrative — 
abridged of its repetitions, superfluities, inaccuracies, and inelegancies — in the 
spirit of its author : the preservation of Mr. Alison's language, however, is but 
partially attained, as the re(5uisite degree of condensation often rendered that 
impossible. To avoid misapprehension on this point, it may be proper to say that 
every line of this volume has been transcribed by the editor's own hand, and not 
one paragraph is given in the precise words of the original. 

It is not to be supposed that the omissions, in the compilation of this book, 
have been made with unerring judgment ; but on this subject the editor contents 
himself with believing that no two living men would entirely agree as to what 
should be rejected and what retained in such an abridgment of such a work. 

The editor deems it ileedless to speak in detail of the merits of Alison's His- 
tory : that they are transcendant — that the work, as a whole, is one of the most 
valuable productions of this, or any age, the world has already decided. 

The campaigns of Wellington in India, though abounding in interest, have no 
direct connexion with European general history ; and, as they could not be in- 
troduced at length without disturbing the plan of the book, they are omitted. 
The cliapter on British Finances is placed, without abridgment, at the end of 
the volume, in the form of an Appendix. 

The chapter on the American War — which the editor believes is destined to an 
unenviable notoriety whenever it shall be currently circulated — is a tissue of mis- 
representation ; and, as it has no legitimate comiexion with the " History of 
Europe," is a gratuitous libel on tlj^ people and institutions of the United States, 
and could not be admitted into an A7nerican book without alterations contradictory 
to the title-page of this volume — U has been wholly omitled. 



▼» PREFACE. 

There are many faults in Mr. Alison's book, which it is to be hoped he may 
revise for a future edition. Corrections of style cannot, indeed, be expected, for 
such a process would require a re-writing of the entire work ; and, besides, an 
author capable of so many blunders, would almost necessarily be incapable of 
amending them. His constant use of the word wliole, as synonymous with all, is 
singularly absurd : " a diplomatic note from the whole sovereigns ;" " the whole 
soldiers retreated ;" " he brought the whole guns to the front ;" " the whole houses 
were occupied by marksmen." The word important is reiterated until it forces a 
smile : almost every town, fortress, and post defended or captured throughout the 
whole narrative is designated as an "important" one. The repetition of the same 
word in a sentence is another great fault in Mr. Alison's style : " a large supply 
of mules was obtained to supply the great destruction of those useful .animals ;" 
" the first business committed to the Senate and Chamber was the nomination of a 
committee ;" " because a brave nation is not to be regarded as overthrown because 
it has experienced reverses ;" " had no alternative but to sidmiit, even on the hard 
terms of submitting to the cession of Norway ;" " while this bloody conflict was 
going on on the steeps above Zadorra on the riglit ;" " even tlie generals were 
shaken by the general contagion ;" " obtain for Sweden the support of some foreign 
power able to support its independence ;" " it was owing to the time lost in this' 
march and countermarch that the failure of the operation loas owing ;" these ex- 
amples are but a small portion of what might be quoted. A worse fault tlian this 
is Mr. Alison's misuse of words : he frequently writes of " a majority of seventy- 
four to five," " a majority of two hundred and twenty-six to thirty ;" " the officers 
and soldiers of the army were the seat of this conspiracy ;" " officials, nominated 
by the crown, who enjoyed their seats only during life;''' " both in the tribune, in 
the Club of Clichy and in the public journals ;" " the stocks rose from forty-five to 
eeventy, an advance of twenty-jive per cent. ;" " the taxes on the inhabitants were 
raised to tivo hwidred per cent, on their incomes ;" " their respective shares in the 
partition of Europe were chalked out ;" " the Russians and Austrians threw upon 
each other the late disasters ;" " he was believed to be the sole survivor of Us foU 
lowers." 

Mr. Alison frequently falls into magniloquence. Speaking of Napoleon's return 
from Egypt, he says : " Discourses of this sort, in every mouth, threw the public 
into transports, so much the more entrancing as tliey succeeded a long period of 
disaster ; the joyful intelligence was announced, amid thunderS of applause, at all 
the tlieatres; patriotic songs again sent forth their heart-stirring, strains from the 
orchestra ; and more than one enthusiast expired of joy at the advent of the hero 
who was to terminate the difficulties of the Republic." Referring to the retreat 
of the French army from Germany after the battle of Leipsic, Mr. Alison says : 
" the French eagles bade a final adieu to the German plains, the theatre of their 
glories, of their crimes, and of their punishment." When the British troops 
entered Bordeaux, in 1814, the inhabitants of that town proclaimed Louis XVIII. 
king : Mr. Alison thus comments on the proceeding : " Thus had England the 
glory of, first of all the allied powers, obtainmg an open declaration from a great 
city in France in favor of tlieir ancient but exiled monarch— just twenty years 



PREFACE. vn 

and one month after the contest had begun, from the murder of the best and most 
blameless of their line."(!) After the battle of Malo-Jaroslawitz, Napoleon held 
a council of war, of which Mr. Alison remarks : " An Emperor, two Kings, and 
three Marshals were there assembled : upon their deliberations hung the destiniea 
of the world." This Emperor was Napoleon, the two kings were Eugene Beau- 
harnois and Murat, the marshals, Berthier, Bessieres and Davoust ; and the time 
was during the retreat from Moscow, when it was doubtful whether the par- 
ties thus deliberating could force their way through the lines of their enemies. 
In concluding this subject of inaccuracies and inelegancies of style, it may be 
remarked, that the History of Mr. Alison abounds in mis-prints, for which, of 
course, he is not responsible, although their correction is important to the accu- 
racy of the work. Pius VII. is denominated Pius VI. ; Austria is printed for 
Asturia, and again for Custrin; Finland for Sweden; Souham (or Jourdari ; noires 
liherateurs for nos Uberaieurs ; 31st for the 30th of April; and in an indefinite 
number of instances the dates in the marginal notes are erroneous. 

Of the historical inaccuracies of Mr. Alison, it will suffice to designate a few of 
the many instances in which he contradicts himself. In speaking of the battle of 
Malo-Jaroslawitz, on the retreat from Moscow, 1812, he says, that was "■the first 
time Napoleon ever retired in an open field from his enemies ;" yet at Aspern, in 
1809, after a much more disastrous defeat, Napoleon, he says, " reti-eated from 
his enemies in an open field." Commenting on the battle of Dresden, August, 
1813, he says the action was memorable from being "the last pitched battle 
Napoleon ever gained ;" yet he tells us that Napoleon won the battle of Hanau, 
October, 1813 ; of Champaubert, February, 1814 ; of Montereau, February, 1814 
— which also he styles " the last and not the least brilliant of Napoleon's victo- 
ries;" and, finally, the battle of Ligny, June, 1815. Relating the arbitrary 
measures of Napoleon to sustain the war and his government, after the battle of 
Leipsic, Mr. Alison says, " a decree was passed by the Senate vesting the nomi- 
ation of President of the Chamber of Deputies in the Emperor, and prorogating 
the seat of such of the Deputies as had expired, and required to befitted up anew, so 
as to prevent any new election in the present disturbed state of the public mind." 
Mr. Alison's meaning in this ill-written sentence is, that the Deputies, u^ose terms 
of service had expired were made, in the phrase of the present day, to hold over, 
i. e. to continue to occupy their seats; yet, soon after, in referring to the proceed- 
ing, he says, "notwithstanding the pains which had been taken to secure the 
interest of Napoleon in the Chamber, by granting to him the nomination of its 
President, and the filling up of the vacant seats by the same authority, it soon 
appeared," etc. Here we are told that the old members were kept in oiBce and 
that new members were put into their vacated seats : it is not, indeed, material 
which of the two accounts is the true one, but the contradiction is a serious 
blunder in an elaborate History. Again, speaking of the Charter granted by 
Louis XVIII., after his first restoration, Mr. Alison recites its merits and its faults; 
in the former enumeration, he says, " prosecution or imprisonment rvas fm-lidd&n, 
except in the cases provided for by law, and according to its forms ;" in the latter, he 



vnr PREFACE. 

says, " no provision was inserted to prevent or restrain arbitrary imprisonmeni, or 
limit the period during which a person arrested might be detained before trial." 

The value of Mr. Alison's work is also greatly impaired by an accumulation of 
useless and uninteresting details ; by repetitions, to the third, fourth and fiftli 
time, of the same events ; and by the immethodical arrangement of chapters and 
paragraphs, which places so many things out of the true order of their occurrence, 
that the reader is constantly perplexed as to tlie chronological bearing of the inci- 
dents upon each other. 

Jt is unnecessary, though it would be easy, to prolong the perhaps ungracious 
task of pointing out the faults of Mr. Alison's History : the editor has said thus 
much in dispraise of the work, in order to furnish substantial reasons for under- 
taking its abridgment ; whether he has committed errors equal in number and 
consequence to those he has detected, is a matter for the public to decide. 



New-York, October, 1843. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

CAUSES AND COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION. 

PABE • 

Importance of the subject — Causes of the savage character of the French Revo- 
lution — Decreasing power of the nobles — Philosophy and Literature — State 
of the Church — Priviliges of the nobles — Taxation — Feudal services — Royal 
prerogative — Corruption at court — Embarrassments of the finances — States. 
General — Contests between the parties — Vacillation of the court — National 
Assembly — Sitting of June 23rd — Concessions of the King — Defection of the 
Duke of Orleans — Further concessions of the King — Consternation in Paris 
— Troops withdrawn to Versailles — Tumults in Paris — Storming of the Bas- 
tile — Spread of the insurrection — National Guard, with La Fayette at their 
head, set out for Versailles — First tumults there — The mob break into the 
Palace — Royal family are forced to return to Paris — Progress of events — 
Measures of the National Assembly — Finances — Confiscation of the Church 
property — Assignats — Emigration of the nobles — Dissolution of the NatioRal 
Assembly : - ......... . 1 — 9 

CHAPTER n. 

FROM THE OPENING OF THE LEGtSI-ATIVE ASSEMBLY TO THE DEATH OF LOUIS. 

Character of the Legislative Assembly — Its parties — Its measures — Oppression of 
the clergy — Declaration of war against Hungary and Bohemia — Commence- 
ment of the War — Insurrection of the Girondists — Proclamation of the allies 
— Storming of the Tuileries — Imprisonment of the king and his family — 
La Fayette's escape from his army and imprisonment at Olmutz — Infernal 
Triumvirate — Revolutionary Tribunal — General arrest of proscribed persons 
— Massacres of the prisoners — Reflections on these atrocities — Legislative 
Assembly gives place to the National Convention — Its parties — The Repub. 
lie proclaimed — Finances — Universal Suffrage — Attempt to impeach Robes- 
pierre and Marat — Preparations for the trial of Louis XVI. — Charges against 
him — His previous treatment in prison — Appears before the Convention — 
Prepares his Will — Trial commences — Its result — Girondists — Orders for 
the King's Execution — Parting with his family — His death, January 21st, 
1793 — His interment — Reflections — His character : ... 10 — 18 

CHAPTER III. 

STATE OF EUROPE PRIOR TO THE WAR. 

Effects of the Revolution on other States — Condition of Great Britain — Opinions 
— Parties — Mr. Fox — Mr. Pitt — Mr. Burke — Condition of Austria — Prussia 



CONTENTS. 

TAGE. 

— Russia — Sweden — Turkey — Italy — Piedmont — Holland — Switzerland 
— Spain — Forces of France — Treaty between Sweden and Austria — Death 
of the nionarchs of these two countries — Francis, Emperor of Austria — 
Efforts of the French to spread their Revolutionary principles — Effect of these 
measures in England — France declares war against Great Britain - - 18 — 94 



CHAPTER IV. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1792. ^ 

French armies lake the field — Their numbers — Numbers of the allies — Invasion 
of Flanders — Ease with which it was repelled — Effect of the defeat in Paris 
— King of Prussia joins the army — Allies invade France — Their success — 
Their inactivity — Defeat of Dumourier — Negotiations with Dumourier — Re- 
treat of the allies — Renewed attempt on Flanders — Operations in Alsace and 
tlie Low Countries — And in Flanders — Battle of Jemappes — Victory of the 
French — Effects of Revolution in Flanders — French reverses on the Upper 
Rhine — Close of the campaign 24 — 30 

CHAPTER V. 

FKENCH REPUBLIC FROM THE DEATH OF THE KIN& TO THE FALL OF 

ROBESPIERRE. 

Difficulties in Paris — Revolutionary Tribunal — Trial of Marat— Efforts of the 
Girondists — Conunission of Twelve — Disturbance in the Convention — In- 
surrection of the Committee of Twelve — Defeat of the Girondists in the 
Convention — Renewal of the insurrection — Military preparations — Second 
defeat of the Girondists — Their arrest and dissolution — Jacobins in power 
— Opinions and revolts throughout France — Committee of Public Safety — 
Law of suspected persons — Revolutionary Committees — Change of the Cal- 
endar — Assassination of Marat — Proscription of the Girondists — Death of 
the young Prince, Louis XVII. — Death of Marie Antoinette, October 16th, 
1793 — Violation of the Royal sepulchres in France — Abjuration of Chris- 
tianity — Worship of Reason — Effects of these measures — Proscription and 
Execution of Bailly, Custine, the Duke of Orleans, Desmoulins and Danton 
— Dictatorship of Robespierre — Massacres throughout France — Reaction of 
feeling in Paris — Accusation of Robespierre — His arrest — His execution — 
Close of the Reign of Terror : ' 30 — 38 

CHAPTER VI. 

■WAR IN LA VENDEE, 

Description of La Vendee — Its inhabitants — Commencement of hostilities — 
Leaders— Orders of the Convention — Bravery and great success of the Roy. 
alists — Their prisoners — Continued success of the Vendeans— Advance upon 
Nantes — Republicans gain some success but are at length totally defeated — 
Renewed efforts of the Convention on a large scale — Devastation of La Ven- 
due — Alternate success of each party — Continued victories of the Ven. 
deans unavailing — Cessation of hostilities — War of extermination com- 
menced by order of the Convention — Atrocious cruelties of Carrier : - 39 — 44 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER VII. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1793 

PAGE. 

' Uiance of the European powers against France — Their want of union — Insubor- 
dination of the French troops — French Finances — Commencement of the 
campaign — Siege of Maestricht — Defeat of the French — Dumourier takes 
command — Batde of Nerwinde and defeat of the French — Negotiations be- 
twcen the allies and Dumourier, and Dumourier's flight — Congress at Ant- 
werp — Vigorous measures of the Convention — Disasters of the French on the 
northern frontier — Operations on the Flemish frontier — Proximity of the 
allies to Paris — Military preparations in France — Carnot — General discom- 
fiture of the allies, and subsequent reverses of the French — Siege of Mau- 
beuge commenced — Jourdan takes command and raises the siege — Moreau 
attacks the Prussians at Permasin and at Weissenberg, and is defeated — 
Fa*e of Strasburg — Secession of Prussia — Operations before Landau — 
Campaigns on the Spanish frontier — Campaign in the maritime Alps — Cap- 
ture of Lyons and massacre of the Royalists — Toulon — Its defences — Its 
investment — Progress of the siege — Evacuation of Toulon — Distress and 
escape of the inhabitants — Destruction of the French fleet — Massacre of 
the citizens : 44— 

CHAPTER VIII. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1794. 

French navy — French and British ships of war — Success of the British fleets in 
the West Indies — And in the Mediterranean — The Channel fleet under Lord 
Howe encounters the French under Admiral Joyeuse — Victory of the British 
commander — Effects of this victory — Allied plan of Campaign — Forces on 
both sides — The allies underrate the power of Revolutionary France — Alter- 
nation of success — Operations of Jourdan — Movements in West Flanders — 
Defection of Austria— Success of the allies — Batde of Fleurus — Operations 
on the Rhine — In Piedmont and Nice — Campaign on the Spanish frontier — 
Jourdan and Kleber assume the offensive in the north — Winter campaign 
— Subjugation of Holland — Capture of the Dutch fleet : - . 55— 

CHAPTER IX. 



Kingdom of Poland— Primitive and savage character of the former government 
— Clergy — Nobility— Peasantry — Power of the King — John Sobieski — 
Factions after his death — First partition of Poland — Second partition — Resis- 
tance of the Poles — Kosciusko — His success — Insurrection in Warsaw — 
Provisional government established — Defeat of Kosciusko — Siege of War- 
saw — The siege is raised — Second siege of Warsaw — Its capture — Termina- 
tion of the Polish Republic — Reflections : 61 — 66 

CHAPTER X. 

CONSOLIDATION OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT: CAMPAIGN OF 1795. 

Parties in Paris after the fall of Robespierre — Humane measures of the Conven- 
tion— Club of La Jeunesse Dorle— Repeal of the Revolutionary laws, and 



CONTENTS. 

PACK. 

impeachment of the Jacobin leaders — Insurrection of the Fauxbourgs — 
Firmness of the Convention — Their success — Massacre of Jacobin prisoners 
— The Convention form a nevv- Constitution — Remarks on this Constitution 
— It is opposed — The Convention appeal to the army — They appoint Napo- 
leon Bonaparte to the comand — Victory of Bonaparte over the insurgents — 
Secession of European powers from the alliance, but Austria and England 
unite, nevertheless — French naval preparations — Campaign in the maritime 
Alps — Position of the armies on the northern and eastern frontier — Jourdan's 
operations and defeat on the Rhine — Expedition to Quiberon Bay — Defeat 
of the Royalists — Republican atrocities — Capture of the Cape of Good 
Hope :.....-.----. 66 — 73 



CHAPTER XI. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1796. 

Bonaparte's plan of campaign in Italy — His marriage with Josephine — Condition 
of the French army — x\nd of the allies — Action at Montenotte — Great suc- 
cess of Napoleon — His alliance with Sardinia — He follows up his success — 
Battle of Lodi — His entry into Milan and military exactions — Vacillation of 
Venice — Continued success — Siege of Mantua — Advance of Wurmser — 
Defeat of Ma^sena — Napoleon raises the siege of Mantua — Defeat of the 
Austrians at Lonato and Salo — Personal danger of Napoleon — Battle of 
Medola — Wurmser divides his forces — And advances upon Mantua — Action 
of Caldiero — And of Areola — Battle of Rivoli — Reflections on this cam- 
paign — Civil war in La Vendee — Condition of England — Disturbances in 
London — Debate on the war — Proposals for peace — Relative position of 
forces on the Upper and Lower Rhine — Opening of the campaign — Opera- 
tions in the mountains and passes of the Black Forest — Discomfiture of Mo- 
reau — Great disasters of the French — Moreau retreats through the Black 
Forest — Continued defeats of the French — Siege and capture of Kehl — 
Treaty between France and Spain — Ireland — French njival armament des- 
tined for Ireland — Death of the Empress Catherine — Resignation of General 
Washington :. 74 — 8 3 

CHAPTER Xn. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1797. 

Affairs in England — Suspension of specie payments in Great Britain — Limita. 
tion of the Bill decreeing the suspension — Supplies for ih6 year — Con- 
spiracy in the British Navy — Mutiny at the Nore — Operations of the 
hostile fleets — Action off" Cape St. Vincent — Battle of Camperdown — 
Effect of these victories— Death of Mr. Burke — Defection of Russia- 
Armies in Italy— Battle of Tagliamento — Napoleon, after many minor 
actions, forces his way across the Alps to the Austrian frontier — Armis- 
tice of Leoben — Treaty of Judemberq; — Partition of the Venetian territo- 
ries — Venice — Revolutionary principles in Venice — Insurrection in the 
Venetian provinces — Effects of these movements — Napoleon declares war 
against Venice — Capture of Venice — Its spoliation — Operations on the 
Rhine — Prussia — Genoa — Napoleon at Montebello — Domestic affairs of 
France — Dissensions between the Royalists and Jacobins — Measures of 
the Directory — Their victory — Its results : 86 — 97 



CONTENTS. XIU 

CHAPTER XIII. 

EXPEDITION TO EGYPT. 

PAGE. 

Napoleon returns to Paris — Naval preparations — Precautions of the British gov- 
ernment — French fleet sails for Toulon — Nelson pursues — Napoleon ar- 
rives in Egypt, captures Alexandria and advances to Cairo — Battle of the 
Pyramids — Nelson arrives at Aboukir — Battle of the Nile — Honors con- 
ferred on Nelson — Effects of this victory — Napoleon's expedition to Syria — 
Capture of Jaffa and massacre of prisoners — Advance to Acre — British 
squadron, under Sir Sidney Smith, arrives there — Napoleon attacks the 
place — Arrival of the Ottoman fleet — Napoleon retreats — Defeats the Turks 
at Aboukir: 97 — 102 

CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM THE PEACE OF CAMPO FORMIO TO THE RENEWAL OF THE WAR. 

Measures for the defence of England — Progress of Revolution in Holland — and 
in Switzerland — The Swiss fly to arms — Success of the French in the larger 
Cantons — and of the Svyiss in the mountains — Sufferings of the Swiss — 
Their final defeat — The Ecclesiastical States are next attacked — Outbreak 
at Rome — France declares war against Rome — Violence to the Pope — and 
his death — Pillage of Rome — Cis- Alpine Republic — Humiliation of the King 
of Sardinia — Revolutionary proceedings at Naples — Defeat of the Neapoli- 
tan troops — Flight of the Neapolitan Court — Championnet advances to Na- 
ples — Desperate battle there — Disturbance in Ireland — Plan of the Insur- 
rection — Measures of the opposite party — And of the Government — Progress 
of the Insurrection — France and the United States — Controversy between 
them — Hanse Towns — Effects of French aggression : - . - 102 — 114 

CHAPTER XV. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1799. 

Preparations of Austria — of Russia — of Great Britain — French forces — Jourdan 
opens the campaign — His defeats — Impolitic measures of the Aulic Coun- 
cil — Campaign in Italy — Effect of defeat on the Republicans there — Massena 
takes command — The Arch-Duke Charles attacks him — Massena's defeat — 
Suwarrow — Operations of Moreau in Italy — Suwarrow's great success — 
Naples — .Junction of Moreau and Macdonald — Suwarrow defeats Macdo- 
nald — Fall of Turin — King of Naples resumes the throne — Punishment of 
the insurgents — Capitulation of Mantua — and of Alexandria — Battle'of Novi 
— Continued errors of the Aulic Council — Disasters to which it leads — Sur- 
render of Zurich — Achievements of Suwarrow — His retreat through the 
Mountains — Effects on the allies of these disasters — Expedition to Holland 
— Its first success and eventual defeat — Battle of Coni — Surrender of that 
town — Close of the campaign : 114 — 12G 

CHAPTER XVI. 

FROM THE REVOLUTION OF SEFTEIVIBER 3kD, TO THE CAMPAIGN OF 1800. 

Progress of the Revolution in France — Elections — Conspiracy of Sieyes — Napo- 
leon abandons his army in Egypt — His return to France — hia residence in 



XIV CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Paris — Conspiracy to place the government in his hands — Council of Five 
Hundred resolve to remove to St. Cloud — Their proceedings there — Vio. 
lent measures in both Councils — Napoleon disperses the members by force, 
and takes command of the Government — His proposals for Peace to Great 
Britain — Debate in Parliament — Domestic transactions of Great Britain — 
Rupture between England and Russia — Measures of Austria to con- 
tinue the war — And of Napoleon — Napoleon's ambitious projects and 
measures: ...., 126 — 132 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FIRST CAMPAIGN OF 1800. 

Austrian forces — French forces — Opening of the campaign — Battle of Engen — 
Battle of Moeskiich — Action at Biberach — Position of the Austrians — Ac- 
tive operations on both sides — Campaign of Italy — French disasters there — 
Siege and capture of Genoa — Napoleon crosses the Alps by the Great St. 
Bernard — His progress in Italy — His entrance into Milan — He defeats the 
Austrians — Critical position of Melas — Battle of Marengo — Victory of the 
French — Its results: 133 — 141 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SECOND CAMPAIGN OF 1800. 

Treaty between Gieat Britain and Austria — Austria temporizes with France — 
Novel proposal of Napoleon to Great Britain — Negotiations for peace — Na- 
poleon's obstinacy breaks off the negotiations — Plot to assassinate Napoleon 
— French and Austrian forces — Capture of Malta by the English — Accession 
of Pjus VII. — Renewal of hostilities — Moreau's operations in Germany — 
Battle of Hohenlinden — Retreat and disaster of the Austrians — Arch-Duke 
Charles takes command of the army — Solicits . and obtains an armistice — 
Macdonald's march across the Alps by the Splugen — He advances into Italy 
— Armistice of Treviso — Treaty between France and Naples — Treaty of 
Luneville : 141—148 



CHAPTER XIX. 

FROM THE PEACE OF LUNEVILLE TO THE DISSOLUTION OF THE NORTHERN 
MARITIME CONFEDERACY. 

Difficulties between Great Britain and Denmark — British fleet proceeds to Co- 
penhagen — Treaty with Denmark — Arbitrary measures of Russia — Mari- 
time Confederacy against Great Britain — Retaliatory measures of Great 
Britain — Embarrassments of the English ministry — Mr. Pitt resigns — His 
successors pursue his policy — Sir Hyde Parker sails to Copenhagen — Battle 
of Copenhagen — Victory of the British — Occupation of Hanover by the 
Prussians — Death of the Emperor Paul — Accession of Alexander — His 
measures and policy — Treaty between Russia and Groftt Britain — Dissolu- 
tion of the Confederacy : . . . .... 148 — 152 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTER XX. 

EXPEDITIONS TO EGYPT AND ST. DOMINGO — EUROPE, FROM THE PEACE OF 
AMIENS TO THE RENEWAL OF THE WAR. 

PAGE. 

Advance of the Turkish army toward Egypt — Negotiations for peace frustrated 
by the British — Defeat of the Turks — Expedition of Sir R. Abercromby — 
Battle of Alexandria — British take possession of Cairo — Surrender of the 
French army — Attempts of Napoleon to regain Egypt — Naval action be- 
tween the British and Frencli* — Treaty between France and Spain — Pre- 
parations of Napoleon for invading England — French treaties with Turkey, 
Bavaria, America, Algiers, and Russia — Effects of the peace — Ambitious 
projects of Napoleon — Expedition to St. Domingo — Its first success and fi- 
nal defeat — Condition of St. Domingo — Napoleon's aggressions in Europe — 
Revolution in Holland — And in the Cis- Alpine Republic — Prosperity of Great 
Britain — Causes of irritation between England and France — Mutual recrim- 
inations — Extraordinary scene with Lord Whitvvorth at the Tuileries — Eng- 
land declares war — Imprisonment of British travellers in France : - 153 — 164 

CHAPTER XXI. 

FRANCE, FROM THE PEACE OF AMIENS TO NAPOLEON's ASSUMPTION OF THE 
IMPERIAL CROWN. 

Condition of France when Napoleon seized the reins of power — Necessity for a 
despotic government — Napoleon's measures against the Jacobins — He estab- 
lishes the Legion of Honor — Reestablishes the Catholic religion — Amnesty 
in favor of exiles and emigrants — Changes in the Constitution — Proposals 
to Louis XVIII. — Civil Code of Napoleon — Law of succession — Confisca- 
tion of property the great sin of the Revolution — Napoleon's flattering pros, 
pects — Moreau — Royalist conspiracy of Pichegru — Arrest of the Duke d'- 
Enghein — His trial and execution, March 21st, 1804 — Consternation in Paris 
when this murder was known — Murder of Pichegru — And of Wright — Trial 
of Moreau — He einbarks for America — Napoleon assumes the Imperial 
Crown: -- ...--..- 164 — 173 



CHAPTER XXII. 

FROM TEE RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES TO THE DECLARATION OF WAR BY SPAIN. 

Preparatioi?for war — Commencement of hostilities — Renewed preparations of 
Napoleon for the invasion of England — And of England for repelling it — 
Insurrection in Ireland — Naval operations — Illness of the King — Mr. Pitt 
recalled to the ministry — Condition of Austria — Of Prussia — Of Russia — 
Impression produced in Europe by the murder of the Duke d' Enghein — 
Coronation of Napoleon and .Tosephine — Rupture between Spain and Great 
Britain — The former power declares war against the latter : - - 173 — 178 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

FROM THE OPENING OF THE SPANISH WAR TO THE BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ. 

Napoleon's journey to Italy — Treaty between Great Britain and Russia — Napo- 
leon assembles his army and flotilla at Boulogne for the invasion of England 



XVI CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

— Forces for the expedition — The French Admiral, Villeneuvc, puts to sea 
— Nelson sails in pursuit— Movements of the hostile fleets — Action of Sir 
Robert Calder, off Ferrol — Its important results — Napleon abandons the 
project of Invasion and moves his troops to the Rhine — Relative forces of 
France and the allies — Nelson sails for Cadiz — Battle of Trafalgar — Results 
of the battle — Death of Nelson — Honors to his memory — Napoleon's ope- 
rations on the Rhine — He violates the Prussian neutralit}^ — Indignation of 
Prussia — Defeat of Auffemberg — Combat at Elchingen — Archduke Ferdi- 
nand cuts his way through the French lines — Entire Austrian army under 
Mack surrenders to Napoleon — Campaign in Italy — ^Battle of Verona — And 
of Caldiero — Austrijins retreat — Napoleon traverses Bavaria — Russians, 
Austrians and French approach Vienna — Convention between Russia and 
Prussia — Success of Ney and Augeroau in the Tyrol — Proposals of Austria 
for an Armistice — Movements around St. Polten — Kutusoff retreats — Com- 
bat with Mortier — Lannes and Murat advance upon Vienna — The Emperor 
Francis evacuates his Capital — Napoleon occupies Vienna — Junction of the 
Russian and Austrian armies — Preparations on both sides for a general ac- 
tion — The Batde of Austerlitz — Its results — Armistice of Austerlitz — Prussia 
recedes from the Convention with Russia — And joins Napoleon — Treaty of 
Presburg — Spoliation of Naples — Death of Mr. Pitt : . . . 179 — 194'' 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

FROM THE PEACE OF PKESBURG TO THE FALL OF PRUSSIA. 

Condition of Europe — New ministry in England — Mr. Fox, Prime Minister — 
French Finances — Occupation of Naples by the French — Insurrection in 
Calabria — Battle of r*Iaida — Louis Bonaparte made King of Holland — 
French naval defeats — Difl'erences between Great Britain and the United 
States of America — Position of Prussia — Hostilities between England and 
Prussia — Napoleon's exactions — Confederation of the Rhine — Irritation of 
Prussia — Treaties of Russia and Great Britain with Prussia — Imprudence of 
Prussia — Napoleon invades Prussia — Manoeuvres of the two armies — Battle 
of Jena — Battle of Auerstadt — Great results of these battles — Entire over- 
throw of Prussia — Napoleon enters Berlin — His cruelty there — Contribu- 
tions levied on the conquered provinces — Napoleon moves to the Vistula : 194 — 205 

CHAPTER ]»XV. 

Russian forces — Russia applies to England — Impolitic and unjust coarse of the 
British government — The armies approach each other — Napoleon gaes to 
Warsaw — Commencement of hostilities — Battle of Pultusk — Its result — 
The armies go into winter-quarters — Hostilities renewed — Russians retreat 
to Prussich-Eylau — Battle of Prussich-Eylau — Its result — Napoleon retreats 
— AfTiiirs of Turkey — Turkey declares war against Great Britain — Attack 
on Constantinople — Change of ministry in Great Britain : - - 205 — 213 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

CAMPAIGN OF FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 

Commencement of the campaign — Siege and capture of Dantzic — Forces of the 
two Nations — Russians defeat Ncy at Guttstadt — Russians retire to Heils- 
berg — French attack and ore repulsed — Russians eventually retreat to Fried. 



CONTENTS. XVU 

land — Battle of Friedland — Proposals for Peace — Napoleon and Alexander 
confer at Tilsit — Treaty between France and Russia — And with Prussia — 
Secret articles of the Treaty of Tilsit : 213—218 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

FROM THE PEACE OF TILSIT TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES IN THE 
SPANISH PENINSULA. 

Napoleon's hostility toward Grfeat Britain — The Continental System — Beriin 
Decree — Measures of Great Britain — Milan Decree — Singular result of these 
measures — Enthusiasm and adulation of the Parisians on Napoleon's return 
to the Capital — Suppression of the Tribunate — And other despotic measures 
— Proscriptions — Internal prosperity of France — Penal Code — Its atrocious 
severity — Conscriptions — Political changes in Central Europe — Internal af- 
fairs of Prussia — Austria — Sweden — Designs of Russia and France on the 
fleets of Denmark and Portugal — England anticipates their movements and 
takes possession of the Danish ships — Negotiations with England — Turkey 
breaks from her alliance with France — Napoleon's proceedings in Italy — His 
encroachments in Western Europe : 218 — 228 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

PRELIMINARY MOVEMENTS OF THE PENINSULAR WAR. 

Differences between France and Spain — Napoleon discovers the hostile intentions 
of Spain and Portugal — He resolves to subjugate the Peninsula — Commences 
hostilities in and against Portugal — Junot advances to Lisbon — The Portu- 
guese Royal Family embark for Brazil — Junot occupies Lisbon — His govern- 
ment— ^affairs of Spain — Treaty of Fontainebleau — Invasion of Spain — The 
King, Charles IV. attempts to escape to America — Is prevented — He resigns 
his crown in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII. — French troops approach Madrid 
— Murat takes possession of the Spanish Capital — Political intrigues between 
Chales IV., Ferdinand, and Napoleon — By the representations of Savary, 
Charles, Ferdinand, and the Spanish Royal Family are induced to travel to 
Bayonne to meet Napoleon — Murat's misgovernment in Madrid — Insurrec- 
tion and massacre of the inhabitants — Effects of these atrocities — Napoleon's 
duplicity toward the Spanish Royal Family — Charles esecute a second ab- 
dication — Ferdinand is forced to a similar measure — Joseph Bonaparte 
declared King of Spain — Napoleon's Constitution for Spain — Joseph's 
Ministry: 228—238 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1808 IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 

The Spanish Peninsula — Forces destined to take part in the Peninsular war — 
Revolts and massacres throughout Spain — Success of the French troops — 
First siege of Saragossa — Siege of Valencia — Defeat of the Spaniards under 
Blake and Cuesta — Atrocities of the French soldiers in Rio Seco and Cor- 
dova — French retreat from the latter place — Their total defeat — Indignation 
of Napoleon at Dupont's surrender — Joseph evacuates Madrid — Reverses of 
the French — Arrival of Wellington in Portugal — He defeats the French 
under Laborde and Junot — An Armistice is concluded and the French 



XVIU CONTENTS. 

evacuate Portugal — Sir John Moore arrives at Lisbon — And marches into 
Spain — Movements of Austria — Interview between Alexander and Napoleon 
at Erfurth — Murat made King of Naples — Napoleon's preparations to invade 
Spain — His great success against the Spanish forces — He advances to Madrid 
— Its capture — Sir David Baird lands at Corunna and joins Sir John Moore 
— Advance and retreat of the British army — Sir John Moore continues his 
retreat toward Corunna — Batde of Corunna — Death of Moore : . 239 — ^252 



CHAPTER XXX. 

FIRST CAMPAIGN OF 1809 IN GERMANY. 

Measures of Austria during the peace — Position of the French and Austrian 
forces — Napoleon's instructions to Berthier — Napoleon takes command — 
Action at Thaun — Subsequent discomfiture of the Austrians — The Arch- 
duke captures Ratisbon — Combat at Landshut — And at Ratisbon — Battle of 
Echmul — The Archduke retreats — Napoleon retakes Ratisbon — Results of 
the campaign, thus far — Reverses of the French in other quarters — Hiller 
takes post at Ebersberg — Massena attacks and defeats him — Napoleon ad- 
vances to Vienna — and takes possession of that city — The Archduke Charles 
approaches Vienna — Position of the two armies — Battle of Aspern — Napo- 
Icon retreats to Lobau and intrenches himself there : . - . 253 — 262 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

FROM THE CAMPAIGN OF WAGRAM TO THE DETHRONEMENT OF THE POPE. 

Napoleon prepares to cross the Danube — Position of the Archduke — The 
French cross the river — And the Austrians retire to Wagram — Description 
of Wagram — Battle of Wagram — The Archduke retreats to Bohemia — Na- 
poleon grants an Armistice— Treaty of Vienna— Napoleon destroys the 
ramparts of Vienna— Operations in the Tyrol— Great success of the Tyro- 
lese— Treaty with them— Execution of Hofer— Expedition of the British 
against Antwerp— Their partial success and retreat— Dissensions between 
the Pone and Napoleon— The former is made prisoner and conveyed to 

J, 263—273 

l ranee : 

m 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

MARITIME war; AND CAMPAIGN OF 1809 IN SPAIN AND 'PORTUGAL. 

British Naval expedition to Basque Roads— Its success— Success of the British 
in the East and West Indies— Portiigal—Spain—Forces of the Spaniards— 
And of the French— Opening of the campaign— Second siege of Saragossa— 
Its capture— Pillage by Lannes and Junot— Disasters following the fall of 
Saragossa— Siege" and capture of Genoa— Success of Victor in Central 
Spain— Soult invades Portugal— And captures Oporto— Wellington arrives 
at Lisbon— Marches against Oporto and retakes it— Soult's perilous retreat 
—Wellington advances toward Madrid— Battle of Talavera— Wellington, 
unsupport'ed by the Spaniards, resolves to retire to the banks of the Tagus— 
Ungenerous apathy of the Spaniards in their own cause— Wellington remon. 
stra'tes— And abandons them to their own resources— Battle of Ocana— Wei- 
lington's system of maintaining his troops— And Napoleon's : - 274—285 



CONTENTS. XUt 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

EVENTS OF 1810 : CAMPAIGN OF TORRES VEDKAS. 

PAGE. 

Napoleon's position — His want of an heir — Offers of his hand — Makes known 
his intentions to Josephine — Her dignified conduct — Her divorce — Nego- 
tiations with Austria — Marriage of Napoleon and Marie Louise — Russia 
takes umbrage — Napoleon's measures force the King of Holland to abdi- 
cate — His differences with Lucien — And with Joseph — Soult commences 
operations in Spain — Siege of Cadiz — French and allied forces in Portugal 
— Massena captures Cuidad Rodrigo and Almeida — Wellington falls back 
to Busaco — Battle of Busaco — Wellington retires to Torres Vedras — Mas- 
sena retreats — Soult captures Badajoz — Wellington pursues Massena — 
Action of Barrosa — Massena withdraws from Portugal — Battle of Fuentes 
d' Onoro — Illness of George III. — Prince of Wales made Regent — Ex- 
change of prisoners — Capture of the Island of Java : . . . 285 — 293 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

PROCEEDINGS OF THE CORTES ; WAR IN SPAIN; CAMPAIGN OF 1811 ON THE 
PORTUGIIESE FRONTIER. 

The Cortes assemble at Cadiz — Their democratic measures — Joseph Bonaparte 
enters Seville — Napoleon's projects — Joseph resigns his crown, but is per- 
suaded to take it again — Operations in the East of Spain — Capture of Tor- 
tosa — And of FiguAas — Burning of Manresa — Siege of Taragona — Its cap. 
ture — Siege and capture of Saguntum — And of Valencia — Beresford lays 
siege to Badajoz — Battle of Albuera — Retreat of Soult — WeUington recom- 
mences the siege of Badajoz, but the approach of Soult and Marmont forces 
him to relinquish it : 293—300 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Wellington's invasion of spain, 1812. 

Wellington lays siege to Cuidad Rodrigo — Captures it — Siege and capture of 
Badajoz — Effects of these two victories — Wellington advances into Spain — 
Enters Salamanca — Battle of Salamanca — Wellington marches to Madrid — 
His entrance into that city — He captures the park of French artillery at the 
Retiro — Aspect of French affairs in the Peninsula — Effects of the concen- 
tration of the French forces — Wellington lays siege to Burgos — And aban- 
dons it — He retreats to Cuidad Rodrigo : 301 — 307 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

WAR IN TURKEY ; ACCESSION OF BERNADOTTE TO THE SWEDISH THRONE ; FINAL 
rupture BETWEEN FRANCE AND RUSSIA. 

Preparations of Russia for war in Turke)' — Success of the Russian troops — Siege 
of Schumla undertaken — Repulse of the storming party — Similar operations 
at Rondschouck — Defeat of the Turks near Battin — Capture of Rond- 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

schouck and Nicopolis — Turks defeated at Rondschouck — They cross the 
Danube and attack Kutusoff — Their total defeat — Peace between Russia and 
Turkey — Encroachments of Russia upon the Swedish dominions — Gusta- 
vus, King of Sweden, resigns his crown — New king and change of policy in 
Sweden — Death of the Crown-Prince — Bernadotte is appointed to succeed 
him — Napoleon's further spoliations in Europe — Resented by Alexander — 
Birth of Napoleon's son — Napoleon's measures force Sweden to declare 
war against England — The French invade the Swedish territories — Sweden, 
Great Britain and Russia declare war against France : - - . 307 — 312 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

ADVANCE OF NAPOLEON TO MOSCOW. 

Immense preparations of Napoleon for invading Russia — Forces of Russia — 
French troops cross the Nienien*— Sufferings of the French before hostilities 
commenced — Barclay retires from Wilna, and the French occupy it — 
French advance to Witepsk — Alexander leaves the army at Potolsk and 
proceeds to Moscow, and thence to St. Petersburg — Oudinot defeated on 
the Dvvina — Barclay and Bagrathion form a junction at Smolensko — Heroic 
defence of General Newerofskoi — Russians evacuate Smolensko, leaving a 
rear-guard for its protection — Napoleon attacks the town — Is repulsed — 
Conflagration of Smolensko — The Russians abandon it — Napoleon pursues 
— Battle at Valentina — Miserable condition of the French army — Move- 
ments of Victor and Augereau — Russians resolve to give battle to Napo- 
leon — Take post at Borodino — Battle of Borodino — Russians fall back 
toward Moscow — And abandon it — French arrive at IVfbscow on the 14th 
of September — Conflagration of Moscow — Kutusoff threatens Napoleon's 
communications: ....-...- 313 — 329 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW. 

Napoleon proposes an Armistice — Sufferings of his troops — Condition of the Rus- 
sian army — Napoleon prepares to retreat — Evacuates Moscow and retreats 
to Malo- Jaroslawitz — Is nearly made prisoner — Council of War held — He 
continues his retreat-r-Its disastrous character — Severity of the weather — 
Arrival at Smolensko — Continued retreat — Defeat of the French at Krasnoi 
— Heroic defence of Ney — His escape — Napoleon arrives sj* Orcha — Batde 
of Beresina — Its result — Napoleon sets out for Paris — Condition of the troops 
after his departure — The army reaches Wilna — And are forced to abandon 
it — Heroism of Ney — Result of the campaign : - - . - 322 — 332 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

EVENTS IN FRANCE FOLLOWING THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 

Napoleon arrives at Paris — Public depression — Relieved by Napoleon's firmness 
— Malet's extraordinary Conspiracy — Its defeat — Napoleon's discontent, 
notwithstanding— His efforts to recruit the army — Negotiations with the 



Pope : 



332—335 



CONTENTS XXI 

CHAPTER XL. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1813. 

PACK. 

Combination of forces to cut off the retreat of the French army — Murat deserts 
the army and repairs to Naples — Eugene takes command — Dehverance and 
policy of Prussia — Her efforts to regain a footing among the Powers of 
Europe — Treaty with Russia — Insurrection in Saxony — Institution of the 
Order of the Iron Cross-in Prussia — The Tugenbund — Position of the French 
troops on the Elbe — Forces of Prussia — Of Russia — The allies occupy 
Hamburg — Insurrections in the Hanse Towns— The allies approach the Elbe 
and occupy Dresden — Napoleon joins the army — Battle of Lutzen — Allies 
retire to Dresden and Bautzen — Napoleon takes possession of Dresden — 
Negotiations with Russia and Austria — Battle of Bautzen — Armistice of 
Pleswitz: - . 335—346 

CHAPTER XLI. 

FROM THE ARMISTICE OF PLESWITZ TO THE RENEWAL OF THE WAR. 

Measures of the British Cabinet — Treaty between Great Britain, Russia, and 
Prussia — Scarcity of specie in Europe — Treaty of Napoleon with Denmark 
— Policy of Austria — Negotiations for Peace — Interview between Metter- 
nich and Napoleon — Convention agreed on — Ne\vs of the battle of Vittoria 
in Spain — Austria decides in favor of the Grand Alliance — Preparations and 
forces on both sides — Congress at Prague — General Moreau joins the allies 
— Schwartzenberg appointed commander-in-chief: ... 346 — 353 

CHAPTER XLII. 

DELIVERANCE OF GERMANY. 

Blucher opens the campaign — Allies advance upon Dresden — They attack the 
town and are repulsed — Battle of Dresden — Death of Moreau — Allies re- 
treat — French defeated at Toeplitz — Disasters of Macdonald in Upper Silesia 
— And of Oudinot north of the Elbe — Napoleon's operations at Dresden and 
in Silesia — Ney encounters Bernadotte at Dennewitz and is defeated — Dis. 
couragement of Napoleon and his troops — The Cossacks make a descent 
into Westphalia — Capture Cassel and retire with Jerome's treasures — Ben- 
ningsen arrives at Toeplitz — Napoleon advances to Duben — Retreats to 
Leipsic — Description of Leipsic — Disposition of the French troops — And of 
the allies — Commencement of the ba#le of Leipsic — Result of the first day 
— Napoleon's interview with Meerfuldt — Battle of Leipsic renewed — Its re- 
sult — Retreat of Napoleon — Disasters of his retreat — He reaches Erfurth, 
where Murat abandons him — Continued retreat — Secession of Bavaria — 
Battle of Hanau — Napoleon crosses the Rhine — The allies enter Frankfort 
— Bernadotte advances to Cassel — Capitulation of Dresden — Effect in Eu- 
rope of Napoleon's defeat : 353 — 368 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

THE LIBERATION OF SPAIN. 

Improved condition of the British army in the Peninsula — Measures of the Cortes 
— Condition of Cadiz — Wellington's forces and plans — French forces — Bat- 



XXll CONTENTS- 

FAOE. 

tie of Castella — Wellington takes leave of Portugal — He advances to Vit- 
toria — Joseph's retreat — Battle of Vittoria — Great amount of spoil taken 
from the French — Soult takes command of the French army — Assumes the 
offensive — Battle of Sauroren — Retreat of Soult — Siege and capture of St, 
Sebastian — Soult retreats over the Bidassoa — Dishonorable conduct of the 
Spanish government toward their allies — Wellington prepares to invade 
France — He attacks and defeats Soult — His regulations for protecting the 
inhabitants from the rapacity of his troops — Soult's position on the Ni- 
velle — He is again defeated by Wellington — He retreats to Bayonne — 
His embarrassments — He is again defeated, and Wellington blockades 
Bayonne: 369—379 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

EUROPE IN ARMS AGAINST FRANCE. 

Results of the Campaign of 1813 — Its effect in France — Napoleon's measures for 
defence — Discontent of the French people — Suffering in the army — Govern, 
ment of Marie Louise, as Regent — Immense Conscriptions — Frontier for- 
tresses — Domestic distress in France — Prosperity of England — Proposals of 
peace by the allied Sovereigns — Napoleon negotiates to gain time — Re- 
solute conduct of the Chamber of Deputies — Napoleon dissolves the Cham- 
ber — Treaty of Valengay — Conferences with Pius VII. — Murat joins the 
allies — Eugene Beauharnois proposes to join them — Denmark abandons 
Napoleon — Proceedings at Frankfort — Accession of Switzerland to the Alli- 
ance — Forces of the allies — And of Napoleon : . . - . 376- 



CHAPTER XLV. 

FIRST CAMPAIGN OF 1814. 

Invasion of France — Napoleon takes leave of his wife and son to join the army 
. — Battle of Brienne — Napoleon retreats to Troyes — The allies divide their 
forces — Battle of Champaubert — Discomfiture of Blucher — Retrospect of the), 
fortunes of the Bourbons since the Revolution — The allies occupy Troyes 
. — Movements of the allies — Measures of Napoleon to protect Paris — Battle 
of Montereau — Congress of Chatillon — Detail of its proceedings — Napoleon 
refuses peace — His ambitious views — Treaty of Chaumont — Blucher's move- 
ments — Battle of Bar-sur-Aube — Action at La Guillotifere — Blucher's dan- 
gerous position at Soissons — He is relieved by the surrender of that town — 
Napoleon follows and attacks him — •attle of Craon — Russians retreat to 
Laon — Defeat of Marmont — Battle of Laon — Napoleon retreats to Soissons 
— Capture and recapture of Chalons : 389 — i04 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

THE FALL OF NAPOLEON 

Brief suspension of hostilities — Napoleon's affairs in other parts of his Empire — 
Holland — South Beveland — Antwerp — Flanders — Italy — Lyons — Welling, 
ton resumes the offensive — Crosses the Adour — Soult retreats to Orthes — 
Battle of Orthes and defeat of Soult — Events in Bordeaux — Beresford enters 
that town — Wellington defeats Soult at Toulouse — Napoleon's embarrass. 



CONTENTS. XXm 

PAGE. 

ments — Napoleon inarches against Schwartzenberg — Battle of Arcis-sur- 
Aube — Retreat of Napoleon — Arrives at Vitry — Proceeds to St. Dizier — 
Discontent of his .officers — His dispatches intercepted by the allies — 
Schwartzenberg and Blucher inarch toward Fere-Champenoise — Battle at 
that place — Defeat of General Pacthod — The allies hasten toward Paris — 
Consternation of the citizens — the Empress and her son leave Paris — De- 
scription of Paris — Its means of defence — Commencement of the Battle of 
Paris — Defeat of the French and surrender of the Capital — Napoleon re- 
turns toward Paris — His excitement when he hears of its capitulation — 
Terms of the capitulation — The allies enter Paris — Meeting at the hotel of 
Talleyrand — Napoleon denounced — Address to the people of Paris — Pro- 
visional government organized — Noble conduct of Alexander — The Senate 
dethrone Napoleon — The army declares for the Bourbons — Napoleon at 
Fontainebleau — He abdicates the throne — Treaty with the allies — He takes 
leave of his troops and departs for Elba — Death of Josephine — Louis XVHI. 
leaves England for France — His entrance into Paris — Treaty of Paris — Lib- 
eration of the Pope : 405 — 423 



CHAPTER XLVn. 

INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND THE NORTH OF EUROPE. 

Enthusiasm in England on the declaration of peace — Measures in Parliament — 
Affairs of Norway — Bernadotte invades Norway — Norway submits and is 
annexed to Sweden — British Corn Laws — Difficulties of Louis XVHL — 
His impolitic measures — His Charter — Its defects — Discontent of the peo- 
ple — Penury of the government — Errors of the ministers — And of the Bour- 
bons — Civil regulations — General exasperation : - . . . 424 — 432 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

CONGRESS OF VIENNA. NAPOLEON'S FINAL STBU6HJLE. 

Members of the Congress of Vienna — Difficulties — Measures — Rumor of Nape- 
Icon's escape from Elba — Spirited conduct of the Congress when Napoleon's 
escape is ascertained — Their Declaration — Napoleon in Elba — His escape 
and arrival in France — His success with the Troops — Enters Grenoble — 
Intelligence of his landing and progress reaches Paris — Consternation there 
— Efforts of the Government to check him — Ney's treason — And that of 
the army generally — Appeal of Louis XVIII. — He I'etreats from Paris with 
the Royal Family — Napoleon arrives at Fontainebleau — And at Paris — Hia 
reflections in the Tuileries — His government and ministers — Resistance to 
his authority in some of the Provinces — New treaty of the Allied Powers 
— Forces preparing to invade France — Napoleon's efforts for defence — 
Fouche's intrigues — New Constitution — Acte A.dditionel — Outbreaks of the 
popular feeling — Caulaincourt endeavors to negotiate with the allies — 
Murat commences hostilities — Contest in La Vendee — New Elections — 
Divisions in Paris — Napoleon discovers Fouche's treachery — Dares not pun- 
ish him — Forces of Wellington — And of Blucher — And of Napoleon — 
Soult takes command — Napoleon sets out for the army — Secret intelli- 
gence communicated to Wellington by Fouche — Fouche's unparalleled du- 
plicity — Napoleon crosses the frontier — Batde of Ligny — And of Quatre- 
Bras — Blucher retreats to Wavre — Wellington falls back to Waterloo — The 
Field of Waterloo — The Battle of Waterloo — Defeat of the French — 



XXIV CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Flight of Napoleon — Grouchy retreats to Laon — Losses in the Battle — Na- 
poleon arrives at Paris — Is denounced by the Chamber of Deputies — He 
abdicates the crown — Chamber of Peers — Advance of the allies — Capitu- ^ 
lation of Paris — Napoleon escapes to Rochefort — Embarks on board the 
Bellerophon — Surrenders himself to the British government — His letter to 
the Prince Regent — He is sent to St. Helena — Violence of the Prussians in 
Paris and its environs — Restoration of the works of art that were taken by 
Napoleon from the European powers — Treaty of Paris — Proscription of 
traitors — Execution of Ney — And of Murat — Napoleon in St. Helena — His 
death and burial — Changes in the French government — Napoleon's renfains 
removed from St. Helena to France, and interred in the Church of the In- 
valides : 433 — 461 

Appendbt, 463 



HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



CHAPTER I. 

Few periods of the world's history can be compared, in interest and 
importance, to that which embraces the origin and progress of the French 
Revolution ; for, in no previous age were events of such magnitude 
crowded together, nor were questions of such moment ever before arbi- 
trated between contending nations. Hereafter, the era of Napoleon will 
doubtless be ranked with the eras of Pericles, Hannibal and the Crusades. 

The extraordinary character of this Revolution must not be attributed 
to any peculiarities in the disposition of the French people, or to any faults 
peculiar to their government, but rather to the weight of despotism which 
preceded, and the prodigious changes which were destined to follow it. 
It was distinguished by violence and stained with blood, because it origin- 
ated chiefly with the laboring classes, and partook of the savage features 
of a servile revolt ; it subverted the institutions of the country, because it 
condensed within a few years the changes which should have taken place 
in as many centuries ; it speedily fell under the direction of the most 
depraved inhabitants, because its guidance was early abandoned by the 
higher lo the lower orders ; and it led to a general spoliation of property, 
because its basis was an insurrection of the poor against the rich. France 
would have done less at the Revolution, if she had done more before it ; 
she would not so mercilessly have wielded the sword to govern, if she 
had not so long been governed by the sword ; nor would she have sunk 
for years under the guillotine of the populace, had she not first groaned 
for centuries under the fetters of the nobility. 

For a hundred and fifty years before the Revolution, France had en- 
joyed the blessings of domestic tranquillity, and, during this interval of 
peace, the relative situation and feelings of the different ranks in society 
underwent a total change. ■ Wealth was silently accumulated by the 
lower orders, while power imperceptibly glided from the higher, in con- 
sequence of the dissipation of their revenues on objects of luxury. When 
civil dissensions again broke out, this difference appeared in the most 
striking manner. It was no longer the territorial noblesse, headed by 
their respective lords, who took the field ; or the burghers of towns, whJo 
maintained insulated contests for the defence of their walls: but the 
A 



2 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. I. 

National Guard who everywliere flew to arms, animated by one common 
feeling and strong in the consciousness of mutual support. They did not 
wait for their landlords to lead, or their magistrates to direct ; but, acting 
boldly for themselves, asserted the cause of democratic freedom against 
the powers they had hitherto been accustomed to obey. 

In the philosophical speculations of the eighteenth century, hazarded 
by Voltaire, Rousseau, Raynal and the Encyclopsedists, the most unre- 
served discussion on political subjects took place ; and, by a singular 
blindness, the constituted authorities made no attempt to check these in- 
quiries. Feeling themselves strong in the support of the nobility, the pro- 
tection of the army, and the long established tranquillity of the realm, they 
considered their power beyond the reach of assault, and anticipated no dan- 
ger from theories on the social contract or from essays on the manners and 
spirit of nations. A direct attack on the monarchy would have consigned 
the offender to the Bastile ; but general disquisitions excited no alarm, 
either among the nobility or in the government. The speculations of these 
eloquent philosophers, however, spread widely among the rising genera- 
tion. Captivated by the novelty of the ideas which were developed, and 
seduced by the examples of antiquity which were held up to imitation, the 
youth imbibed not only free, but republican principles. Madame Roland, 
the daughter of an engraver, and living in an humble station, wept when 
she was yet but nine years old because she was not born a Roman citizen ; 
and she carried Plutarch's Lives, instead of her breviary, in her hand 
when she attended mass in the cathedral. 

Within the bosom of the Church too, owing to an invidious exclusion of 
all persons of plebeian birth from the dignities and emoluments of the eccle- 
siastical establishment, the seeds of deep-rooted discontent were to be found. 
While the bishops and elevated clergy were rolling in wealth or basking 
in the sunshine of royal favor, the humbler clergy, on whom devolved 
the whole practical duties of Christianity, toiled in virtuous obscurity 
among the peasants who composed their flocks. The simple piety and 
unostentatious usefulness of these rural priests endeared them to their 
parishioners, and formed a striking contrast to the luxurious habits and dis- 
sipated lives of the high-born dignitaries of the Church, whose enormous 
wealth excited the envy of their indigent brethren and of the lower classes 
of the people, while the general idleness of their lives rendered more of- 
fensive the magnhude of their fortunes. Hence, the universal indignation, 
in 1789, at the vices and corruption of the Church, and the readiness with 
which, at the very commencement of the Revolution, the property of the 
clero-y was confiscated to relieve the embarrassed finances of the country. 
The distinction between the nobility and the baseborn was carried to a 
length in France of which, in a free country, it is difficult to form an 
adequate conception. Every person was either noble or roturier ; no 
middling class, no gradation of rank was known. On the one side, were 
one hun'dred and fifty thousand privileged individuals; on the other, the 
whole body of the French people. All situations of importance in the 
Church, the army, the court, the bench, or the ranks of diplomacy, were 
held by the former of these classes : a state of things of itself sufficient to 
produce a revolution in a flourishing and populous country. 

The system of taxation in France was another serious grievance. 
The nobles and clergy were exempt from imposts on the produce of the 
land, and this burden therefore fell exclusively and with insupportable 



1789.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 3 

weight on the laboring people. At the same time, the peasantry were, 
with few exceptions, in an indigent condition. Their houses were com- 
fortless, their clothing was little better than rags, and their food was of 
the coarsest and most humble kind. Then, too, in addition to the misfor- 
tune of an impoverished peasantry, France was cursed with a body of 
non-resident landholders, who drew their revenues from the soil, but ex- 
pended them in the metropolis : thus depriving the country-people of that 
direct trade in their own productions so essential to their prosperity. 
Being thus deserted by their natural guardians, and receiving no benefit 
or encouragement from them, the laboring classes acquired a discontented 
spirit, and were soon ready to join those desperate leaders, who promised 
them liberty and pillage as a reward for burning the castles and murder- 
ing the families of the nobility. 

Again, the local burdens and legal services, due from the tenantry to 
their lawful superiors, were to the last degree vexatious and oppressive. 
The peasantry of France were almost in a state of primitive ignorance ; 
not one in fifty could read, and the people in each province were una- 
ware of what was passing in the neighboring provinces. At a distance 
of only fifty miles from Paris, men were unacquainted with the occurrence 
of the most stirring events of the Revolution. No public meetings were 
held, and no periodical press was within reach to spread the flame of dis- 
con';ent ; yet the spirit of resistance gradually became universal from 
Calais to Bayonne. 

The royal prerogative, by a long series of successful usurpations, had 
reached a degree of despotism incompatible with rational freedom. The 
most important right of a citizen, that of deliberating on the paissing of 
laws and the granting of supplies, had fallen into desuetude. For nearly 
two centuries the kings, on their own authority, had published ordinances 
possessing all the force of laws, which however could not be legally sanc- 
tioned but by the representatives of the people. The right of approving 
these ordinances was arbitrarily transferred to the Parliament and courts 
of justice, and even their deliberations were liable to be suspended by 
the personal intervention of the sovereign and infringed by despotic im- 
prisonment. 

Corruption, too, in its worst form had long tainted the manners of the 
court, as well as of the nobility, and poisoned the sources of influence. 
Since the reign of the Roman emperors, profligacy had never been con- 
ducted in so open and undisguised a manner as under Louis XV. and the 
regent Orleans. 

Finally, hopeless embarrassment in the national finances was the 
immediate cause of the Revolution. It compelled the king (Louis XVL) 
to summon the States-General as the only means of avoiding national 
bankruptcy. Previous ministers had tried temporary expedients, and 
every other effort — including the king's voluntary renouncement of his 
household luxuries — had been made to avert the disaster ; but the extra- 
vagant expenses of the government, combined with the vast interest on its 
accumulating debt, rendered them all abortive. 

The 5th of May, 1789, was the day fixed for the opening of the States- 
General ; and, strictly speaking, that was the first day of the French 
Revolution. 

The Assembly was opened at Versailles with extraordinary pomp. 
Galleries, disposed in the form of an amphitheatre, were filled with a bril- 
A2 



4 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. I. 

liant concourse of spectators, while the deputies occupied the centre accord- 
ing to the order established at the last Convocation in 1614. The clergy- 
sat on the right, the nobles on the left, the commons (or Third Estate) in 
front, of the throne. After the ministers and deputies had taken their 
places, the king appeared, followed by the queen, the princes, and a bril- 
liant suite ; and as he seated himself on the throne amid loud applause, 
the three orders of the deputies rose and covered themselves. In days 
past, the commons remained uncovered and spoke on their knees in the 
presence of the king : their present spontaneous movement was ominous 
of the subsequent conduct of that now aspiring body. The king delivered 
his speech and was followed by the minister of finance, M. Neckar ; but 
although both were listened to with great attention, the deputies observed 
with regret that neither monarch nor minister proposed any tangible expe- 
dient for relieving the pecuniary embarrassment which had called them 
together. 

On the day following, May 6th, 1789, the nobles and the clergy organ- 
ized themselves in their respective chambers ; but the commons, to whom 
on account of their numbers the large hall had been assigned, waited, or 
pretended to wait, for the other orders. The contest was now openly 
begun. The commons alleged that they could not verify their powers 
until they were joined by the other Estates ; while the nobles and clergy 
had already verified their powers in their chambers apart, and were ready 
to begin the business of the session. For several weeks, the commons 
now continued to meet daily in the great hall, waiting vainly for the ac- 
cession of the other orders : they attempted to accomplish nothing actively, 
but merely trusted to the negative force of inactivity to compel their oppo- 
nents to submit to them. This state of things could not long continue. 
The refusal of the commons to organize themselves delayed the public 
business completely, while the desperate state of the finances and the rap- 
idly increasing anarchy of the kingdom called loudly for immediate 
measures. 

During the discussion on this important subject, the clergy, who wished 
to bring about a re-union of the three orders without openly yielding to 
the commons, sent a deputation headed by the Archbishop of Aix, to pro- 
pose that a committee of the commons should meet a few of the clergy 
and nobles in a private conference on the best means of assuaging the 
general suffering. The commons, who did not wish to yield anything, and 
yet knew not how to decline this proposition without compromising them- 
selves, were at a loss what answer to return, when a young man, till 
then unknown to the assembly, rose and said, "Go, and tell your col- 
leagues that if they are so impatient to assuage the suflerings of the poor, 
they must come to this hall and unite with their friends. Tell them no 
longer to retard our operations by affected delays : tell them it is vain to 
employ such stratagems as this to change our firm resolutions. Rather let 
them, as worthy imitators of their master, renounce a luxury which con- 
sumes the funds of indigence ; dismiss the insolent lacqueys who attend 
them ; sell their superb equipages, and convert these vile superfluities into 
aliment for the poor !" At this speech, which so clearly expressed the 
passions of the moment, a confused murmur of applause ran through the 
assembly, and every one asked who was the young deputy who had so 
happily given vent to the public feeling. His name afterwards made 
every man in France tremble : it was Maximilian Robespiekre. 



1789.J HISTORY OF EUROPE. 5 

At this crisis, the measures of the court were marked with a fatal vacil- 
lation. Neckar lacked resolution to carry through the only plan that 
promised security — that of uniting the nobles and clergy in one chamber, 
and the commons in another. He did not venture to propose this to the 
commons, because it would have endangered his own popularity, or to 
press it on the king, because he would doubtless have refused it. Thus, 
by wishing to avoid a rupture with either party, he lost the confidence of 
both, and pursued that temporizing policy, which in civil convulsions is 
always ruinous. 

Meanwhile, the pretensions of the commons hourly increased with the 
indecision of their adversaries. They no longer debated whether they 
should organize themselves as the representatives of the nation ; they 
merely hesitated as to what title they should assume. The discussion 
lasted till past midnight, and, atone o'clock in the morning, they resolved 
by a vote of 491 to 90, to assume the title of National Assembly. They 
announced the result to the other orders, and assured them that they 
should proceed to business with or witliout their concurrence. Their next 
step was to declare all imposts illegal, except those voted by themselves 
or during the period when they were sitting. They then proceeded to 
consolidate the public debt and appoint a committee to watch over the 
public subsistence. 

No language can describe the enthusiasm, which these decisive meas- 
ures excited throughout all France. "A single day," it was said, "has 
destroyed eight hundred years of prejudice and slavery." But the more 
thoughtful trembled at the consequences of such gigantic steps. 

At length, on the 2.3rd of June, the king seated himself on the throne, 
surrounded by his guards and attended by the pomp of monarchy. He 
was received in sullen silence. He commenced his speech by condemn- 
ing the commons and lamenting the spirit of faction they evinced. His 
declarations followed; prescribing, first, the form of the meeting of the 
Estates, and requiring their deliberations to be held with closed doors ; 
and, in the second place, setting forth an exposition of the rights which the 
monarch conceded to his people. These in fact contained the whole ele- 
ments of rational freedom. But the concessions which are made under 
compulsion never satisfy those whom they are intended to conciliate, and 
the multitude are never less reasonable than on the first acquisition of 
power. 

On the following day, the Duke of Orleans and forty-six of the nobility 
went over to the commons ; when the king, seeing that opposition was 
fruitless, desired the clergy and the remainder of the nobility also to join 
them. The nobles made an energetic remonstrance, and foretold the fatal 
eifects of immersing themselves in a body where their own numbers would 
be so inconsiderable, compared to those of their opponents: they at length 
yielded, however, and were speedily lost in an overwhelming majority. 

The king was not long in discovering tils error and endeavored to atone 
by rashness for the results of imprudence. The palace' of Versailles 
was thrown open to the officers of the army and the young nobility, who by 
their declamation soon persuaded the court that they still had the power 
to control the people. The king therefore changed his ministry, and not 
only dismissed M. Neckar, but gave him an order to quit the kingdom: 
an order that was instantly and silently obeyed. ,j 

As soon as this intelligence transpired, Paris was thrown into the utmost 
A3 



6 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. I. 

consternation. Fury succeeded to alarm ; the theatres were closed ; the 
Palais-Royal resounded with the cry of " To arms !" and a leader, after- 
ward distinguished, Camille Desmoulins, armed with pistols, gave the sig- 
nal for insurrection by breaking a twig from a tree in the gardens and 
placing it in his hat. His example was followed by the crowd and the 
trees were stripped of their foliage. "Citizens," said Desmoulins, "the 
moment for action has arrived; the dismissal of M. Neckar is the signal 
for a St. Bartholomew of the patriots ; this very evening, the Swiss and 
German battalions will issue from the Champ de Mars to massacre us; 
our only resource is to fly to arms." The crowd unanimously adopted 
his proposal, and marched through the streets bearing in triumph busts of 
M. Neckar and of the Duke of Orleans. At first, they were charged by 
a German regiment which was put to flight by a shower of stones; but 
the dragoons of Prince Lamberc coming up soon after, they were dis- 
persed, and the bearer of one of the busts and a soldier of the French guard 
were killed. This was the first blood shed in the Revolution. 

In this extremity, the measures of the court were calculated neither to 
conciliate nor overawe ; though the latter was attempted, since a part of the 
troops were withdrawn to Versailles where the assembly was sitting. It 
seemed as if the government were intent on intimidating that body, with- 
out considering the power of the popular insurrection at Paris. 

During the absence of the military, the tumults of Paris rose to an 
unexampled height. Immense bodies of workmen assembled together, 
and, being joined by the guards, broke open the arsenals and gun- 
smiths' shops, distributed the arms among their adherents, burned sev- 
eral houses and forced open the barriers, which had been closed by 
order of the king. The Hotel des Invalides was taken by the aid of the 
veterans who inhabited it, and within sight of the Ecole Militaire where 
the troops of the line were stationed. No less than twenty thousand 
muskets and twenty pieces of cannon were seized and given out to the 
insurgents. The Place de Greve Avas converted into a vast depot of 
arms; at the Hotel de Ville, a committee was appointed which rapidly 
organized an insurrectionary force ; fifty thousand pikes were forged and 
distributed among the people, and it was determined that the armed force 
should be raised to forty-eight thousand men. This was the commence- 
ment of the National Guard of Paris, a body which was of essential 
service, sometimes for good, sometimes for evil, during the Revolution. 

On the morning of the 14th of July, intelligence was spread that the 
royal troops stationed at St. Denis were marching on the capital, and that 
the cannon of the Bastile were pointed down the street St. Antoine. The 
cry immediately arose, "To the Bastile!" and the waves'of the tumult 
began to roll in that direction. This fortress was well provided with 
artillery, but it was almost destitute of food, and its garrison consisted 
of but eighty invalids and thifty soldiers of the Swiss guard. When 
the insurgents arrived, a partmf their number was admitted within the 
first drawbridge to parley witlg the garrison, and they began, during the 
conference, to escalade the inner walls ; upon which the governor of the 
Bastile gave orders to fire. Fearful, however, of the effect of grape-shot 
on the dense masses, he at first directed the discharge of musketry only, 
which repelled the leaders, and the mob fell back in confusion. But the 
arrival of the disaffected French guard with artillery soon changed the 
scene. These men intrepidly sustained the fire of the fortress, which 



1789.1 HISTORYOFEUROPE. 7 

now discharged grape-shot, and they began to batter the walls in return, 
while the people in the adjoining houses plied the garrison with musketry. 
At this juncture, either by accident or design, the chain that suspended 
the inner drawbridge was cut, and the bridge fell. The assailants rushed 
in, and the garrison, seeing that further resistance was hopeless, hoisted 
the white flag and threw down their arms. • 

The consequences of this insurrection were immense. The lower 
orders throughout the provinces of France, in imitation of the capital, 
organized themselves into independent bodies, and established National 
Guards for their protection. Three hundred thousand men were in this 
manner speedily enrolled for the popular party, and the influence of the 
government, as well as the power of the sword, passed into the hands of 
the people. 

Paris, meantime, was in the last degree of confusion. The disorder 
arising from many co-existing authorities rendered the supply of provi- 
sions precarious, and the utmost exertions of the municipality were requi- 
site to prevent the poorer inhabitants from dying of famine in the streets. 
The more violent of the people assembled in mobs, and surrounded the 
bakers' shops and depots of provisions, clamoring for food. An attack on 
the palace of Versailles was openly discussed in the clubs and recom- 
mended by the orators of the Palais Royal ; until the court deemed it 
indispensable to provide for their own security by ordering to Versailles 
an additional number of troops. This movement, together with the feast 
given to the new-comers by the regiments already quartered there, was 
magnified into a new cause of offence by the Parisian rabble. The cry 
arose, "To Versailles!" and a motley multitude of drunken men and 
women, armed and unarmed, set out in that direction. The National 
Guard, which had assembled on the first appearance of disorder, impa- 
tiently demanded to follow ; and although their commander. La Fayette, 
exerted his utmost influence to detain them, he was at length compelled 
to yield, and the whole armed force of Paris set out for Versailles. 

The members of the Assembly and the inhabitants of Versailles, though 
less violently excited, were also in an alarming mood. No one, however, 
anticipated immediate danger. The king was out at a hunting-party and 
the Assembly were about to break up for the day, when the forerunners 
o^ the disorderly multitude from Paris began to appear in the streets. At 
the first intimation of the disturbance the king hastened to the town. He 
found the gates of the courtyard of the palace closed, and his own troops 
drawn up within the inclosure facing the crowd; while without, was 
assembled an immense body of the National Guard, with armed men and 
furious women uttering seditious cries and fiercely demanding bread. A 
heavy rain soon began to fall, however; and this so well seconded the 
•efforts of La Fayette to pacify the multitiMe, that not long after midnight 
comparative order was restored. Indeed, \a Fayette had at that time an ' 
interview with the royal family, when h«assured them of the security 
of the palace; and unfortunately he was l||nself so far convinced of the 
pacific disposition of his soldiers, that he repaired to a chateau at some 
distance from the palace and retired to sleep. 

But, at six o'clock on the following morning, a furious mob surrounded 
the barracks of the royal body-guard, broke them open, and pursued the 
inmates to the gates of the palace, where fifteen of them were seized and 
doomed to immediate execution. Another mob besieged the avenues to 



8 HISTORYOFEUROPE. TChap. I, 

the palace, rushed in at an open gate and speedily filled the staircase 
and vestibules of the royal apartments. Two of the body-guard, posted 
at the head of the stair, made the most heroic resistance and gave the 
queen time to escape into the apartment of the king. The assassins 
rushed into her room a few moments after she had left it, and, enraged at 
finding their victim fled, pierced her bed with their bayonets. 

General La Fayette, at the first alarm, threw himself on his horse and 
hastened to the spot. He made an impassioned harangue to the grenadiers 
and succeeded in prevailing on them to stay the fury of the mob. The 
leaders of the tumult, being so far foiled, determined nevertheless to derive 
some advantage from their success, by forcing the king and royal family 
to accompany them to Paris. It was not deemed prudent to resist this 
demand ; and the Assembly hastily passed a resolution that they were 
inseparable from the king and would accompany him to the capital, there 
to hold their future sessions. Thus the democratic party achieved a pro- 
digious victory, by having both branches of the legislature transferred to 
Paris, where their own influence was ii-resistible. The royal party set 
forth at noon on the 8th of October, in the midst of the disorderly multi- 
tude, who did not cease to insult and revile them during the whole of that 
painful journey (prolonged by various impediments through seven hours,) 
at the end of which they were conducted to the palace of the Tuileries. 
Thus terminated the first era of the Revolution. Five months only 
had elapsed since the meeting of the States-General ; and during that 
time not only the power of the sovereign had been overthrown, but the 
very structure of society changed ; and the king after having narrowly 
escaped being murdered in his own palace was now a captive, surrounded 
by perils in the midst of his capital. 

The first legislative measures of the Assembly after removing to Paris, 
were intended to appease the rising jealousy of the provinces. These 
little states, finding their rights and importance extinguished by the fast 
increasing sovereignty of the National Assembly, were in some instances 
taking steps to counteract its influence. To meet the emergency, the 
kingdom was divided into eighty-four departments ; each department 
was subdivided into districts, and each district into cantons. A criminal 
tribunal was established for each department ; a civil court for each 
district ; a court of reference for each canton : and it resulted from the 
further legislation on this subject that the whole force of the kingdom was 
placed at the disposal of the lower orders. By the nomination of munici- 
palities, they had the government of the towns ; by the command of the 
■ armed force, the control of the military; by the elections^in the depart- 
ments, the appointment of the deputies to the Assembly, of th^ judges to 
the courts of law, of the bishops to the Church, and of the officers to the 
National Guard ; by the electioBs in the cantons, the nomination of magis- 
trates and local representativ^. Everything, either directly or by the 
intervention of a double electiwi, flowed from the people '; and the quali- 
fication for voting was so low'as, practically, to admit almost every able- 
bodied man. With so complete a democratic constitution, it is not sur- 
prising that, during all the subsequent changes of the Revolution, the 
popular party should have acquired so irresistible a power, and that, in 
almost every part of France, the persons in authority should be found 
supporting the multitude, on whom they depeflded for political existence. 
The finances next occupied the attention of the Assembly, and it was 



1790.J HISTORY OF EUROPE. 9 

high time. The nation was subsisting entirely on borrowed nnoney, and 
the public debt had increased during the last three years no less than 
1,200,000,000 francs, or nearly two hundred and fifty millions of dollars. 
In this emergency, the property of the Church was the first that came to 
hand, and it was, without the slightest scruple, sacrificed to the public 
necessities. The Church lands were nearly one-half of the whole landed 
property of the kingdom, and their value was estimated at several thousand 
millions of francs. 

This violent measure led to another which in the end proved even more 
disastrous. The present necessities of the state required the sale of a 
portion of the ecclesiastical property to the amount of 400,000,000 francs, 
(or about eighty millions of dollars ;) and to facilitate the transaction, the 
municipalities of Paris and other cities became the purchasers in the first 
instance, and they relied for reimbursement on the subsequent sale of the 
property, in detached portions, to individuals. But a difficulty arose m 
finding a circulating medium in sufficient quantity to discharge the price 
of so extensive a purchase before the secondary sales were effected ; and 
the difficulty was met by issuing the promissory notes of the several mu- 
nicipalities to the government in exchange for their land ; these notes 
passed cui-rent as money until they severally came to maturity. When 
that period arrived, however, the original difficulty recurred ; there was 
no medium with which to discharge the notes ; and at length recourse 
was had to an issue of govermnent bills, which should bear a legal value 
and pass for money from one end of the kingdom to the other. The 
issue of these bills soon superseded the necessity of sales of confiscated 
property ; for the government retained the domains in its own control as 
a security for its bills, which were thereafter made as they were wanted, 
and eventually issued in such prodigious amounts as forbade all hopes of 
their ever being redeemed. Thus arose the system of assignats, the 
source of more public strength and private suffering than any other 
measure in the Revolution. 

Month after month the Assembly continued to sit, and almost every new 
act of their legislation tended to the more complete ruin as well of what 
was vicious as of what was good and venerable in the ancient constitution 
and social organization of France. Meantime, as it was evident to all 
reflecting minds that greater atrocities were yet to be enacted, and that, 
for the present, all legitimate government was at an end, the king made 
two unsuccessful attempts to escape from Paris ; and the nobility began 
to emigrate in large numbers to Coblentz. In fact, the resolution to depart 
became so general, that the roads leading to the Rhine were crowded 
with the elegant equipages of noble families, wno did not, as in the time 
of the Crusades, sell their estates, but abandoned them in the hope that 
they might soon regain them by the sword. Vain hope ! The Assembly, 
in due time, confiscated their property, the republican aa'mies vanquished 
their battalions, and their inheritances were lost for ever. 

At length, on the 29th of September, 1791, after having adopted a consti- 
tution which vested some nominal authority in the king and placed all the 
real power in the hands of the people, the National Assembly closed its 
sittings ; leaving the future conduct of the government to a Legislative 
Assembly who had just been elected on the basis of a universal suffrage. 



CHAPTER II. 

FROM THE OPENING OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY TO THE DEATH OF LOUIS. 

The members of the Legislative Assembly — in the formation of which 
not only was almost every man entitled to a vote, but was also eligible 
to election — were, probably, the most motley group that ever undertook 
to regulate the affairs of a large and powerful country. Not fifty of the 
whole number were possessed of twenty-five hundred francs (five hun- 
dred dollars) a year. They were composed chiefly of presumptuous and 
half educated young men, clerks in counting-houses, and attorneys from 
the provincial towns who had risen to notice during the absence of all 
persons of wealth, and recommended themselves to attention by the ve- 
hemence with which they proclaimed the principles of democracy. In 
many instances they had talent enough to be dangerous, without knowl- 
edge enough to guide or property enough to check their ambition. If a 
demon were to select a body of men qualified to consign a country to per- 
dition, he could not choose more efficient colleagues. 

The new Assembly opened its sittings on the 1st of October, 1791. Its 
members divided themselves into three parties ; the Feuillants, or friends 
of the Constitution, who had for leaders Lameth, Barnave, Duport, Damas 
and Vaublanc ; the Girondists or republicans, led by Vergniaud, Guadet, 
Gensonne, Isnard, and Brissot ; and the Jacobins, or ultra revolutionists, 
led by Chabot, Bazire and Merlin. The real influence of the latter party, 
however, was to be found in the Jacobin clubs throughout Paris, where 
Robespierre, Danton and others held absolute sway. 

The first acts of the new Assembly were directed against the clergy and 
the emigrants. The clergy having been already despoiled of their posses- 
sions, were now required to take the oath to the Constitution, which cur- 
tailed their salaries to a mere pittance and ordered them to be moved from 
place to place, so that they could acquire no influence over their peo- 
ple ; forbidding them, also, to exercise any religious rites in private. The 
emigrants, were condemned to death and their estates to confiscation, un- 
less they returned to France before the first of January, 1792. The 
king refused to sign these acts, but as he had already openly disapproved 
of the emigration, he issued a proclamation recalling the absentees. In 
this, as in almost all his acts, he gave dissatisfaction and offence to every 
party. , 

The Assembly were more successful in persuading the king, though 
much against his will, to declare war against Hungary and Bohemia. 
This step, which was taken on the 20th of April, 1792, was popular with 
all parties. The Royalists hoped that the German powers might prevail, 
and by overturning the revolutionary authority, reinstate the king ; the 
Constitutionalists, seeing their own consequence on the wane, hoped to 
regain it through the influence of the army ; and the Jacobins longed for 
the tumult and excitement of campaigns, from which they felt confident 
in some way of reaping substantial advantage. Thus commenced iho 
greatest, the most bloody, and the most eventful war which has agitated 
mankind since the Fall of the Roman Empire. It rose from feeble be- 
ghinings, but it finally enveloped the world in its commotion. 



1792.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 11 

The intelligence of the declaration of war was received with joy by all 
the people of France. It communicated a new impulse to the public 
mind, already so excited. Addresses to the Assembly came in from every 
municipality, congratulating them on having vindicated the national 
honor ; arms were prepared, gifts provided, and the nation seemed impa- 
tient to receive its invaders. But such displays of patriotism, how strong 
soever as auxiliary to military discipline, are seldom able to supply its 
place. The first encounters with the enemy were all unsuccessful to the 
French arms, and it more than once appeared in the sequel that, had the 
allies acted with decision and pressed on to Paris before military experi- 
ence had been added to the enthusiasm of the French, the war might have 
been terminated by a single campaign. These disasters to the armies 
produced the utmost consternation in Paris : each party accused the others 
of treachery, and general distrust and recrimination prevailed. The 
Assembly took the most energetic measures for ensuring their own au- 
thority and the public safety. They declared their sittings permanent, 
disbanded the guard of the king, and exiled the refractory clergy. To 
secure the capital from insult, they directed the formation of a camp of 
twenty thousand men near Paris, and sought to maintain the enthusiasm 
of the people by a series of revolutionary fetes. 

The evident peril of the king now aroused him to more than usual vigor ; 
but his measures still lacked that judgment which is essential to efficient 
exertion. On pretexts comparatively frivolou.s, he estranged himself from 
the Girondists, who in many respects were well disposed toward him, and 
he dismissed the three ministers on whom he could best have relied. The 
Girondists, chagrined at these proceedings, and fearful of the increasing 
power of the Jacobins, planned a general insurrection. On the 20th of 
June, a tumultuous body ten thousand strong, under direction of the Giron- 
dists, made their way to the doors of the Assembly with a petition for the 
total destruction of the Executive power. The hall was next thrown open, 
and the mob, now increased to thirty thousand men, women and children, 
passed through in procession uttering furious cries and displaying seditious 
banners. They next proceeded to the palace, the outer gates of which 
were left open. They immediately broke into the garden, thronged the 
staircase and entered the royal apartments, where Louis stood sur- 
rounded by a few attendants. The foremost of the crowd, overawed by his 
presence, made an involuntary pause ; but the mass behind pressed on- 
ward, and the king was soon jostled and in imminent danger, from which 
his attendants with great difficulty rescued him, not however until he had 
received numberless personal indignities from the mob. This outbreak at 
last terminated without bloodshed, but its occurrence showed the desperate 
condition of the capital. 

The court had now no hope but in the approach of the allies, who, un- 
der the Duke of Brunswick, had just entered the territories of France. 
The allied army consisted of fifty thousand Prussians and sixty-five thou- 
sand Austrians and Hessians. The Duke issued a proclamation, in which 
he warned the Assembly that if they did not forthwith liberate the king 
and return to their allegiance, they should forfeit their heads, and if the 
slightest insult were again offered to the royal family an exemplary pun- 
ishment should be inflicted by the total destruction of the city of Paris. 
The effect of this manifesto was, in every particular, unfortunate ; for, from 
the distance of the invaders at the time of its promulgation, it roused the 



12 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. II. 

people to resistance, instead of overawing them ; and, being regarded as a 
disclosure of the ulterior designs of the king, it fui-nished a pretext to the 
Assembly and the populace for yet more violent proceedings against the 
whole royal family. 

As it was evident that some new outrage was contemplated, the king 
made preparations to defend the palace. His chief reliance Avas on the 
Swiss guard, of whom he could assemble about eight hundred men. In 
addition to these, some detachments of the National Guard who were 
believed to be faithful occupied the court of the Tuileries, and some hun- 
dreds of Royalists, chiefly of noble families, were scattered through the 
palace. On the other hand, the insurgents, organized by Danton and 
Robespierre, were assembled in great force and well supplied with artil- 
lery. The first assault was nobly repelled by the Swiss; but, as they 
were unsupported by the National Guard and unable from the smallness 
of their numbers to follow up their advantage, they were eventually over- 
thrown and massacred almost to a man. Thus in this last extremity, it 
was neither in his titled nobility nor his native soldiei-s that the French 
king found fidelity, but in the free-born mountaineers of Lucerne, un- 
stained by the vices of a corrupt age and firm in the simplicity of rural 
virtue. These events took place on the 10th of August, 1792, and they 
were immediately followed by a decree of the Assembly suspending the 
king, dismissing the ministers, and directing the instant formation of a 
National Convention. On the 13th of August, the royal family were 
removed to the Temple and confined as state prisoners. 
"^ The victory over the throne on the 10th of August was followed by 
the submission to the ruling party of all the departments of France. But 
the intelligence had at first a different reception at the head-quarters of 
La Fayette's army, then stationed at Sedan. The officers and men 
appeared to share the consternation of their leader, and even renewed 
their oath of fidelity to the constitutional throne ; but the period had not 
arrived when soldiers, accustomed to look only to their chief, were pre- 
pared at his command to defy the authority of the legislature. In fact, 
La Fayette soon found that he had prematurely compromitted himself 
and was forced to flee from the army, whence he intended to escape to 
America ; but he was arrested near the frontier by the Austrians and 
conducted to the dungeons of Olmutz. He was offered his liberty on 
condition of making certain recantations of opinions maintained by him 
in the earlier stages of the Revolution concerning a modification of the 
royal prerogative and in favor of a constitutional throne : but he preferred 
enduring four years of rigorous confinement to receding in any particular 
from the principles he had embraced. The Assembly declared him a 
traitor and set a price on his head, and the first leader of the Revolution 
owed his life to imprisonment in an Austrian fortress. 

Meanwhile, the principal powers of the French government fell into 
the hands of Danton, Marat and Robespierre, well designated " the Infer- 
nal Triumvirate;" and their influence was speedily felt in the measures 
adopted by the municipality of Paris. 

Their first demand on the Assembly was for the appointment of a 
Revolutionary Tribunal, which, by being invested with the power to 
pronounce sentence of death without appeal, would be able to take sum- 
mary vengeance on all concerned in the defence of the palace on the 10th 
of August, on which occasion so many of " the people" were slain. The 



1792.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 13 

Assembly strove to resist this sanguinary demand, but they were forced 
to submit. 

On the 29th of August, the barriers of Paris were closed and remained 
sliut for forty-eight hours, so that all escape from the city was impossible; 
and domiciliary visits through every quarter of the town supported by a 
large military force were then made by order of the Tribunal. Several 
thousands of all ranks were arrested, but the victims were selected chiefly 
from the nobles and dissident clergy. Danton now directed the opera- 
tions of the tribunal and prepared lists of proscription which he distributed 
to his functionaries. Early in the morning of the 2nd of September a band 
of three hundred assassins, directed and paid by the magistrates, assembled 
around the doors of the Hotel de Ville, where they were plied with ardent 
spirits and furnished with final instructions. 

'J'iie prison of the Abbaye was the first to be visited. Four-and-twenty 
priests, put under arrest for refusing to take the new oath, were at the 
lime in custody at the Hotel de Ville. They were now placed in six 
coaches and conducted to the Abbaye amid the yells and execrations of 
the mob ; and the moment they arrived, they were dragged out from the 
carriages into the inner court of the prison, and there butchered. The 
cries of these victims first announced to the prisoners within the fate that 
awaited themselves. A tribunal was convened in an adjoining dungeon, 
over which Maillard presided by torch-light. He had a drawn sabre 
before him, his robes were drenched in blood, and officers with drawn 
swords and blood-stained shirts surrounded his chair. Reding, one of the 
Swiss guards, was first summoned to appear before this tribunal ; but, 
while he was passing through the court, the impatient populace assailed 
him with knives, and he fell dead before he reached his judges. Others 
were successively called for. A few minutes, and often a few seconds, 
sufficed for the trial of each individual, when he was turned out to tiie 
vengeance of the multitude who thronged around the door with knives 
and sabres, panting for blood and loudly demanding a more rapid supply 
of victims. Immured in the upper wards of the building, the otiier 
prisoners witnessed with agony the prolonged sufferings of their comrades, 
and some had the presence of mind to observe in what manner the victims 
soonest met death, in order that, when their turn came, they might shorten 
their own sufferings by avoiding useless struggles. 

After this butchery had proceeded for some time, the populace in the 
more remote part of the court of the prison complained that those only 
who were nearest the dungeon of the tribunal could cut down the prison- 
ers, while they were deprived of the privilege of shedding aristocratic blood. 
It was therefore stipulated, that those in advance should strike the con- 
demned with the backs of their sabres, so that the victims might be made 
to run the gauntlet through a long avenue of murderers before they were 
finally struck down. The women in the adjoining quarter of the town 
made a formal demand to the tribunal to be admitted as spectators of this 
scene of blood ; accordingly, benches were arranged, under charge of 
sentinels, for their accommodation. As each prisoner was successively 
turned into the court, a yell of joy arose from the multitude ; and when 
he fell, they danced like cannibals around his remains. In the midst of 
the massacre. Mademoiselle de Sombrieul, a beautiful girl of eighteen, 
threw herself on her father's neck when he was beset by the assassms, 
and declared they should not strike him but through her body. In 



14 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. II. 

amazement at her courage, the mob paused ; and one of their number 
presented to her a cup filled with blood, exclaiming "Drink! it is the 
blood of the aristocrats: drink it, and we will spare him." She did so 
and her father was saved. Similar tragedies took place at the same time 
in all the other prisons of Paris and in many religious houses occupied as 
prisons for the occasion. About five thousand persons perished during 
these massacres, besides some thousands of criminals previously confined 
in the jails for minor offences unconnected with the state, but who now 
fell innocent victims to that thirst for blood by which the people were infu- 
riated. The slaughter continued without interruption from the 2nd to the 
6th of September ; at the end of which time the corses were thrown into 
trenches already prepared by the municipality for their reception. They 
were subsequently conveyed to the catacombs, where they were built up 
with masonry, and where they still remain, the monument of crimes unfit 
to be thought of even in the abodes of death, and which France would 
willingly bury in oblivion. 

The perpetration of thesg^murders in the French capital by so small a 
number of men, is one of the most instructive facts in the history of 
revolutions. Marat had long before said that, with two hundred assassins 
at a louis a day for each, he would govern France and cause three hun- 
dred thousand heads to fall: and these events of September seemed to 
justify his assertion. The number of those actually engaged in the 
massacre did not exceed three hundred, and about twice as many 
witnessed and encouraged their proceedings: yet this handful of men 
governed Paris and France with a despotism which three hundred thou- 
sand armed warriors afterward strove in vain to impose. The immense 
majority of the well-disposed citizens, divided in opinion, irresolute in 
conduct and dispersed in different quarters, were incapable of arresting 
a band of assassins engaged in the most atrocious cruelties, of which 
modern Europe has yet afforded an example. It is not less worthy of 
remark that these deeds of blood were enacted in the heart of a city 
where above fifty thousand men were enrolled in the National Guard and 
had arms in their hands — a force, too, specifically provided to arrest 
insurrectionary movements and support the majesty of the Law. But 
they were so divided in opinion, and the Revolutionists composed so large 
a part of their number, that nothing whatever was done by them, either 
on the 10th of August when the king was dethroned, or on the 2nd of 
September when the prisoners were massacred. 

In the midst of these horrors, the Legislative Assembly drew to its 
termination and was succeeded in its misrule of blooii by a body still 
more revolutionary and ferocious — the National Convention. Of its 
members it is sufficient to say that the most prominent and influential 
were Robespierre, Danton, Marat, Desmoulins, Varennes and others who 
directed the massacres of September. The whole was comprised in three 
parties. The Girondists, occupying the right, had the majority of votes, 
but lacked the courage and energy to exert their power on urgent occa- 
sions. The Jacobins, occupying the summit of the left (whence their 
designation "The Mountain,") were fewer in numbers, but they were 
affiliated with the Parisian mob and supported by its municipality, who 
at their call would always crowd around the doors of the hall and over- 
awe the whole assembly. A third, or neutral party was called "the 
Plain j" its principles were not at first declared and its members ranged 



1792.J HISTORYOFEUROPE. 15 

themselves with the Girondists, until terror compelled them to coalesce 
with the fierce minority. 

The first measure of the Convention was to abolish the monarchy and 
proclaim a Republic. This occurred on the 20th of September, 1792 ; 
after which the calendar was so changed that the current year became 
the first year of the French Republic. Their next care was a considera- 
tion of the finances. From the report of M. Cambon, the minister of that 
department, it appeared that the preceding assemblies had authorized the 
issue of no less than 2,700,000,000 of francs (about five hundred and 
forty millions of dollars,) — a prodigious sum to have been disbursed in 
three years of peace. As a trifle only of this amount remained in the 
treasury, a new issue was ordered on the security of the national domains 
— which domains were constantly accumulating in the hands of the gov- 
ernment, and now, from continual confiscations^ embraced more than two- 
thirds of the landed property of France. 

The Convention then proceeded to some changes in the constitution 
adopted by their predecessors. On the motion of the Duke of Orleans, 
the few remaining requisites to election, whether for voters or candidates, 
were abolished. Every person, of whatever rank, was declared eligible 
to any office, so that absolute equality, in its literal sense, was universally 
established. 

Another measure, momentous in its consequences, was soon brought 
forward : namely, an attempt on the part of the Girondists to impeach 
Robespierre and Marat. The attempt failed, but its importance consisted 
in its development of the relative strength of the Girondist and Jacobin 
parties in the Convention, prior to the undertaking of another measure 
which was destined to attract the eyes of Europe and of the world. This 
was the trial of Louis XVI. 

To prepare the nation for this event, and to familiarize them with the 
tragedy in which they were resolved it should terminate, the Jacobins 
had taken the most vigorous measures throughout all France. In their 
central club at Paris, the question was repeatedly canvassed, and their 
discussions were transmitted to all the departments ; while, daily, at the 
bar of the Convention, petitions were presented praying for vengeance on 
the remainder of the murderers of the 10th of August, and for "death to 
the last tyrant." 

The charges against Louis were very numerous ; but of all of them it 
suffices to remark that, so far as they were true, the acts they recited were 
perfectly justifiable ; and that the greater part were base calumnies, 
incapable of proof and totally without foundation in fact. 

During his imprisonment in the Temple, the unfortunate monarch was, 
gradually and under various frivolous pretexts, deprived of almost every 
comfort. At first, the royal family were permitted to spend their time 
together. They breakfasted at nine in the queen's apai'tment ; at one, 
if the weather were fine, they walked for an hour in the garden, strictly 
watched by the officers of the municipality, fro^n whom they often received 
the most cruel insults. Some hours were devoted to the instruction of the 
prince, and at intervals the princess-royal played whh her brother and 
softened by every attention the pain of her parents' captivity. Soon, 
however, the precautions and restrictions of the municipality became more 
intolerable. The officers refused to let them be out of their sight for ail 
instant, and when they retired to rest, a bed was placed for the guard at 



16 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. H. 

ihe door of each room. Writing materials were taken from them, and, soon 
after, the scissors, needles and bodkins of the princesses, with which they 
had whiled away many a tedious hour ; and, such was the rigor of their 
exclusion from the world without, they were almost wholly ignorant of 
what was taking place in the city. The municipality next determined 
to separate the king and the dauphin from the queen and princesses : a 
mqst barbarous decree and one that brought tears into the eyes of the 
officers who enforced it. 

The king appeared before the Convention to hear and plead to the 
charges on the 11th of December, when, after some debate, it was decided 
that he should have time to prepare his defence and choose his own counsel. 
He made choice of M. Tronchet and M. Target ; the former of whom 
accepted and faithfully discharged his duty ; the latter had the baseness to 
decline. The venerable Malesherbes afterward volunteered his services 
to defend the king, and united with Tronchet in applying to JDeseze for 
his cooperation, which that celebrated advocate immediately accorded. 

When the eloquent peroration of Deseze was read to the king, the even- 
ing before it was to be delivered to the Convention, Louis requested him 
to strike it out from his argument. " It is enough for me," said he, " to 
appear before such judges and demonstrate my innocence : I will not 
condescend to appeal to their feelings." On the same day, he composed 
his immortal Testament ; the most perfect commentary on the principles 
of Christianity that ever came from the hand of a king. " 1 reconnnend 
to my son," said he in a portion of that touching memorial, " should he 
ever have the misfortune to become a king, to feel that his whole existence 
should be devoted to the good of his people ; to bury in oblivion all hatred 
and resentment, especially for my misfortunes ; to recollect that he can- 
not promote the happiness of his subjects but by reigning according to the 
laws ; at the same time, he cannot carry his good intentions into execution 
without the requisite authority. I pardon all those who have injured me 
and J pray my son to recollect only their sufferings. I declare before 
God, and on the eve of appearing at his tribunal, that I am wholly inno- 
cent of the crimes laid to my charge." 

The trial commenced on the 26th of December and was continued ibr 
twenty days. The king's counsel defended their client with consummate 
ability, but the case, like most cases that came before that bloody tribunal, 
was prejudged, the royal victim was in effect condemned before he was 
accused, and eloquence and argument, as well as every appeal to humanity 
and justice, were equally vain. The final vote was taken on the 15th of 
January, when Louis was unanimously pronounced guilty ; an astounding 
decision to all parties, but evidently given under the expectation that it 
would not prove fatal to the king ; for, when the remaining question vva.s 
proposed as to the punishment to be inflicted, it M'as debated through a 
protracted and stormy session of no less than forty hours, and finally decided 
by a majority of only twenty-six out of seven hundred and twenty-one 
votes. The sentence was Death. 

But for the defection of the Girondists, the king's life would have been 
saved. Forty-six of their party, including Vergniaud, voted against him. 
They were anxious to save the king^ but fearful of irritating the Jacobins 
by voting according to their own wishes. Almost every one of these forty, 
six afterward perished on the same scaffold, to which they had condemned 
their sovereign. 



1793.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 17 

On the 20th of January, Santerre, with a deputation from the munici- 
pality, presented himself before the king and formally read the sentence. 
Louis received it with unshaken firmness and demanded a respite of three 
days in which to prepare for heaven ; he also solicited an interview with 
his family and a confessor. The last two demands alone were conceded, 
and the execution was ordered for the following morning at ten o'clock. 

The king's last interview with his family was a heart-rending scene. 
At half past eight in the evening, the door of his apartment opened and 
the queen appeared leading by the hand the princess-royal and the prin- 
cess Elizabeth, the sister of Louis : they all rushed into his arms. For 
some minutes there ensued a profound silence broken only by the sobs 
of the afflicted family. The king then sat down, having the queen on his 
left, the princess-royal on his right, Elizabeth in front and the dauphin 
between his knees. This terrible scene lasted nearly two hours. Louis 
at length rose ; the royal parents each gave a parting blessing to the 
dauphin, while the princesses still held the king around the waist. As 
he approached the door, they uttered the most piercing cries. " I assure 
you," said Louis, "I will see you again in the morning at eight." " Why 
not at seven?" they exclaimed. "AVell, then, at seven," answered the 
king. He then pronounced the word " adieu !" but in so mournful an 
accent that the lamentations redoubled, and the princess-royal fainted at 
his feet. The king finally tore himself from them and turned for conso- 
lation to the Abbe Edgeworth, who spent the remainder of the night with 
him and heroically discharged the perilous duty of attending his last 
moments. 

At nine o'clock, on the 21st of January, Santerre reappeared to conduct 
his sovereign to the scaifold. In passing through the court of the Temple, 
Louis gave a last look at the tower which contained all that was dear to 
him in the world ; and, immediately summoning his courage, he calmly 
seated himself in the carnage beside his confessor and opposite two gen- 
d'armes. During the passage to the place of execution, which occupied 
two hours, he continued to repeat the psalms pointed out to him by his 
confessor. The streets were filled with an immense crowd who beheM 
the mournful procession in silent dismay : a large body of troops sur- 
rounded the carriage, and a double file of soldiers and National Guards 
with a formidable train of artillery rendered hopeless any attempt at 
rescue. When the procession arrived at the designated spot, between the 
garden of the Tuileries and the Champs Elysees, Louis descended from 
the carriage and disrobed himself without the aid of the executioners; 
but he manifested a momentary indignation when they began to bind his 
hands. The Abbe Edgeworth checked him, saying with almost inspired 
felicity, " submit to this outrage, as the last resemblance to the Saviour, 
who is about to recompense your sufferings." He mounted the scaffold 
with a firm step ; with a single look he imposed silence on twenty drummers 
placed there to prevent his being heard, and said with a loud voice " I die 
innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge ; but I pardon the authors 
of my death and pray Grod that my wrongs may never be visited upon 
France. And you, unhappy people — " At these words, Santerre ordered 
the drums to beat ; the executioners seized the king and the axe terminated 
his existence. One of the attendants grasped the head and waved it in 
the air, and the blood was sprinkled over the confessor who knelt beside 
the lifeless corse of his sovereign. 



18 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. III. 

The body of the king, immediately after the execution, was removed 
to the ancient cemetery of the Madeleine at the end of the Boulevard 
Italienne and placed in a grave six feet square. Large quantities of 
quick lime were thrown on the body, so that when, in 1815, the remains 
were sought after, that they might be conveyed to the Royal Mausoleum 
in St. Denis, scarcely any part could be discovered. 

The king was executed in the centre of the Place Louis XV. on the 
same spot where afterward, the queen, the princess Elizabeth and many 
other noble victims of the Revolution perished ; where, also, Robespierre 
and Danton were executed ; and where the Emperor Alexander and the 
allied sovereigns took their station, when their victorious armies entered 
Paris on the 31st of March, 1814. Thus, the greatest of revolutionary 
crimes and the greatest of revolutionary punishments took place on the 
same spot : nor has modern Europe another scene to exhibit fraught with 
equally interesting recollections. It is now ornamented by the colossal 
obelisk of blood-red granite which was brought from Thebes, in Upper 
Egypt, in 1833, by the French government. That monument, which wit- 
nessed the march of Cambyses, and survived the conquests of Ccesar and 
Alexander, is destined to mark to the latest generation the scene of the 
martyrdom of Louis and of the final triumph of his immortal avenger. 

The character of this monarch cannot be better described than in the 
words of Mignet, the ablest of the Republican writers of France. " Louis 
inherited a revolution from his ancestors : his qualities were better fitted 
than those of any of his predecessors to have prevented or terminated 
it ; for he was capable of effecting reform before it broke out, and of 
discharging the duties of a constitutional throne under its influence. He 
was perhaps the only monarch who was subject to no passion, not even 
that of power, and who united the two qualities essential to a good king, 
fear of God and love of his people. He perished, the victim of passions 
which he had no share in exciting ; the passions of his supporters with 
which he was unacquainted, and the passions of the multitude which he 
had done nothing to awaken. Few kings have left so venerated a mem- 
ory. History will write for his epitaph that, with a little more force of 
mind, he would have been unrivalled as a sovereign." 



CHAPTER III. 

STATE OF EUROPE PRIOR TO THE WAR. 

It was not to be expected that so great an event as the French Revolu- 
tion, rousing as it did the passions of one portion and exciting the appre- 
hensions of the other portion of mankind all the world over, could long 
remain an object of passing observation to the adjoining states. It ad- 
dressed itself to the hopes and prejudices of the great body of the people 
in every country ; and, by exciting their ill-smothered indignation against 
their superiors, added to a sense of their real injuries the more powerful 
stimulus of revolutionary ambition. A ferment accordingly began to spread 
through the neighboring kingdoms ; extravagant hopes were formed, chi- 



1792.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 19 

merical anticipations indulged, and the laboring classes, inflated by the 
rapid elevation of their brethren in France, believed the time was ap- 
proaching when the distinctions of society were to cease and the miseries 
of poverty expire, amid the universal dominion of the people. 

Austria, Russia and England were at this time the great powers of 
Europe, and they therefore bore a principal part in the long and desperate 
struggle that ensued. 

Nine years of peace had enabled Great Britain to recover in a great 
degree from the exhaustion of the American war. If she had lost an 
empire in the Western, she had gained one in the Eastern world. Her 
national debt, amounting to £244,000,000 sterling (ten hundred and 
sixty millions of dollars,) on which the annual interest was £9,317,000 
(forty-four millions of dollars,) was a severe burden on the industry of the 
people ; while the yearly taxes, though light in comparison with what 
were subsequently imposed, were still felt to be oppressive. The resources 
of the kingdom were, nevertheless, enormous. Commerce, agriculture 
and manufactures had rapidly increased, the trade with the independent 
States of North America was found to exceed in value what it had been 
when that country was in a state of colonial dependence, and the exertion 
of individuals to improve their condition had produced a surprising effect 
on the accumulation of capital and the state of public credit. The three 
per cents., which were at -57 at the close of the war, had risen to -99, and 
the overflowing wealth of the cities was already finding its way into the 
most circuitous foreign trade and hazardous distant investments. The 
national revenue amounted to £16,000,000 (seventy-six millions of dol- 
lars,) and the army included thirty-two thousand soldiers in the British 
Isles, besides an equal force in the East and West Indies and thirty-six 
regiments of yeomanry. After the commencement of the war, and pre- 
vious to 1796, the entire regular army of Great Britain amounted to two 
hundred and six thousand men, including forty-two thousand militia. More 
than half of this force, however, was required for the service of the colo- 
nies ; and experience has proved that Britain can never collect more than 
forty thousand at any one point on the continent of Europe. The strength 
of England consisted in her inexhaustible wealth, in the public spirit and 
energy of her people, in the moral influence of centuries of glory, and in 
a fleet of a hundred and fifty ships of the line which gave her the undis- 
puted command of the seas. 

The opinions of the people on the French Revolution were greatly 
divided. The young, the ardent, the philosophical, the factious, the rest- 
less and the ambitious were sanguine in their expectations of its success, 
and exulted in its promise of benefit to the human race : while the great 
majority of the aristocracy, the adherents of the Church, the holders of 
ofiice under the monarchy, and in general the opulent ranks of society 
beheld it with disgust and alarm. 

At the head of the first party, was Mr. Fox, the eloquent and illustrious 
champion of universal freedom. Descended from a noble family, he in- 
herited the love of liberty, and by the impetuous torrent of his eloquence 
long maintained his place as leader of the opposition of the British Empire. 

Mr. Pitt was the leader of the second party, which, at the commence- 
ment of the French Revolution, was in full possession of the government 
and had a decided majority in both houses of Parliament. Modern his- 
tory can scarcely furnisli another character of such eminence. His early 



20 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. III. 

career was distinguished by the sentiments and principles inherited from 
his father, the first Lord Chatham, and his great abilities gave him from 
the outset a prominent place in Parliament. On the 12th of January, 
1784, before he was Jive-and-twenty years of age, he took his seat in the 
House of Commons, as Chancellor of the Exchequer ; and never did a 
more arduous struggle await a minister. The opposition, led by the 
impetuous energy of Fox, aided by the experience, influence and admi- 
rable temper of Lord North, possessed at that time a large majority in 
the lower House, and they treated with the utmost scorn this attempt of a 
young man of four-and-twenty to disposses them of the government. But 
it was soon evident that Pitt's transcendent talents were equal to the task. 
Invincible in resolution, cool in danger, fertile in resource, powerful in 
debate, and possessed of a moral courage which nothing could overcome, 
Pitt exhibited a combination of great qualities which, for political contest, 
was never excelled ; he successfully withstood the most formidable par- 
liamentary majority which had appeared in England since the days of 
Cromwell, and ultimately remained victorious in the struggle. 

Mr. Burke was the leader of a third party composed of the old Whigs 
who supported the principles of the English, but opposed those of the 
French, Revolution. This celebrated man had long stood side by side 
with Mr. Fox in the opposition, but on the breaking out of the French 
Revolution, he took part with the government. With great political saga- 
city he exerted his talents to oppose the levelling principles which that 
convulsion introduced ; and his work on that subject produced a greater 
impression on the public mind than, perhaps, any other book which has 
yet appeared in the world. It abounds in eloquent passages and profound 
wisdom ; but vast as was its influence, and unrivalled as was its reputa- 
tion, its value was not fully understood till the progress of events demon- 
strated the justice of its principles. The division on this vital question for 
ever alienated these two illustrious men from each other, and drew tears 
from both of them in the House of Commons where it took place : a striking 
token of the effects which the Revolution, out of its immediate sphere, 
produced on the charities of private life, and of the variance which it 
occasioned in the bosom of families and between friendships that " had 
stood the strain of a whole life." 

Austria was the most formidable rival of the French Republic on th? 
continent of Europe. This great empire, containing at the time nearly 
twenty millions of inhabitants, and having a revenue of ninety millions 
of florins, held the richest and most fertile districts of Europe among its 
provinces. The possession of the Low Countries gave Austria an advanced 
post immediately in contact with the French frontier, while the mountains 
of the Tyrol formed a vast fortress, garrisoned by an attached and war- 
like people, and placed at a salient angle between Germany and Italy. 
Her armies, numerous and highly disciplined, had acquired great renown 
in the wars of Maria Theresa and maintained a creditable position, under 
Daun and Laudohn, in the scientific campaigns with the Great Frederic. 
Her government, nominally a monarchy, but really an oligarchy in the 
hands of the great nobles, possessed all that firmness and tenacity of 
purpose by which aristocratic powers have always been distinguished, 
and which, under unparalleled difficulties and disasters, at last brought 
her successfully through the long struggle in which she was soon 
afterward engaged. The Austrian forces, at the commencement of the 



1792.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 21 

war, amounted to two hundred and forty thousand infantry, thirty-five 
thousand cavalry, and one hundred thousand artillery ; while the extent 
of the empire and the warlike disposition of the inhabitants furnished inex- 
haustible resources for the maintenance of the contest. 

The military strength of Prussia, raised to the highest pitch of which 
its resources would admit, by the genius of the great Frederic, rendered 
this once inconsiderable kingdom a first-rate power on the Continent. Its 
army, one hundred and sixty thousand strong, including thirty-five thou- 
sand cavalry, was in the best state of discipline and equipment; and this 
force, considerable as it was, formed but a small part of the strength of 
the kingdom. By an admirable system of organization, the whole of the 
Prussian youth were compelled to serve a limited number of years in the 
army, so that not only was a taste for military habits universally diffused, 
but the country always possessed an immense reserve of experienced 
troops who might in any emergency be called to its defence. The states 
which composed the Prussian monarchy were by no means so coherent 
as those of the Austrian dominions. Nature had traced out for them no 
limits like the Rhine, the Alps or the Pyrenees, to designate their boun- 
daries ; no great rivers or mountain chains protected their frontiers ; and 
few fortified towns guarded them from the incursions of the military 
nations by which they were environed. Their surface consisted of four- 
teen thousand square leagues, and their population amounted to nearly 
eight millions, composed of different races, professing different creeds and 
speaking different languages. Toward Russia and Austrian Poland, a 
frontier of two hundred leagues was destitute of places of defence ; Sile- 
sia, alone, enjoyed the double advantage of three lines of fortresses and 
the strongest natural barriers. The national security rested entirely on 
the army and the courage of the inhabitants. The government was a 
military despotism, and the liberty of the press was unknown ; neverthe- 
less, the public administration was tempered by the wisdom and benefi- 
cence of its state-policy. In no country of Europe were private rights 
more thoroughly respected, or justice more rigidly observed, than in the 
courts and domestic government of Prussia. 

The immense Empire of Russia — comprehending nearly half of Europe 
and Asia, backed by inaccessible regions of frost, secured from invasion 
by the extent of its surface and the severity of its climate, inhabited by a 
patient and indomitable race who were ever ready to exchange the luxu- 
ries and adventure of the south for the hardships and monotony of the 
north — was daily becoming formidable to the liberties of Europe. The 
infantry of Russia had long been celebrated for its immovable firmness ; 
and the cavalry, though inferior to its present state of discipline and equip- 
ment, was inured to service in the war with the Turks, and mounted on 
a hardy and admirable race of horses. The artillery was more distin- 
guished for the obstinate valor of its men, than for the condition of its 
guns. The armies were recruited by a certain proportion of conscripts 
drawn from every hundred of male inhabitants; a mode of supply in a 
large and rapidly increasing population, that was not easily exhausted. 
The entire force in 1792 amounted to two hundred thousand men, exclu- 
sive of the youth of the military colonies, and of the well-known Cossacks 
of the Don. This irregular force, composed of the pastoral tribes in the 
southern provinces of the Empire, was a very slight expense to the govern- 
ment : it was necessary only to issue an order for a certain number of these 



22 HISTORYOFEUROPE, [Cbap. III. 

hardy bands to take the field, and crowds of active young men appeared, 
equipped at their own cost, mounted on small but indefatigable horses, and 
ready to undergo all the hardships of war. Gifted with the individual 
intelligence which belongs to the pastoral and savage character, and yet 
subjected to a certain degree of discipline, they were the best light troops 
in the world, and were more formidable to a retreating army than the 
bravest of French or Russian dragoons. The population of Russia, in 
Europe alone, was nearly thirty-five millions, and was increasing at a 
rate which doubled its numbers in forty years : this supply of inhabitants 
with the other resources of the Empire, enabled her to bear a distinguished 
part in the approaching conflict. 

Sweden was too remote from the scene of European strife to have much 
weight in the political scale. She had recently, however, concluded a 
glorious war with her powerful neighbor, Russia ; for her arms, in alliance 
with the arms of Turkey, had taken the Russian forces by surprise, and 
Gustavus, her king, extricating himself by a desperate exertion of valor 
from a perilous situation, had destroyed the Russian fleet and gained a 
great victory so near to St. Petersburg that the sound of his cannon was 
heard in the palace of the empress. Catherine hastened to be rid of the 
Swedish war by offering advantageous terms to her brave antagonist, and 
flattered him to accept them by representing that the efforts of all sove- 
reigns should now be directed toward resisting the progress of the French 
Revolution and that he alone was worthy to head the enterprise. 

Placed on the other extremity of the Russian dominions, the forces of 
Turkey were still less capable of affecting the balance of European power: 
her troops, too, though formidable among their native defences to an in- 
vading army, were comparatively inefficient, when removed from their 
own fields and brought into contact with the better disciplined armies of 
other European states. 

The political importance of Italy had sunk almost as low as that of 
Turkey. Inhabiting the finest country in Europe — a country blessed 
with the richest plains and most fruitful mountains, defended from inva- 
sion by the encircling sea and the frozen Alps, venerated also from the 
I'e^ollections of ancient greatness and from its containing the cradle of 
modern freedom — the people of Italy were yet as dust in the scale of 
nations. 

The kingdom of Piedmont, situated on the frontiers of Italy, partook 
more of the character of its northern than its southern neighbors. Its 
soldiers, drawn chiefly from the mountains of Savoy, Liguria, or the 
maritime Alps, were brave, docile and enterprising, afnd, under Victor 
Amadeus, had risen to the highest distinction in the beginning of the 18th 
century. The regular army amounted to thirty thousand infantry and 
three thousand five hundred cavalry ; and the government could, in addi- 
tion to this, summon to its support fifteen thousand militia who, in defend- 
ing their mountain passes, rivalled the best troops in Europe. They 
were chiefly employed during the war in guarding fortresses ; and the 
number of these, joined to the natural strength of the country and its posi- 
tion important as holding the keys of the great passes of the Alps, gave 
this state a degree of military consequence beyond what could have been 
anticipated from hs mere physical strength. 

Sunk in obscure marshes, crushed by the naval supremacy of England, 
and cooped up in a corner of Europe, Holland had become a compara. 



1792.1 HISTORYOFEUROPE. 23 

lively insignificant power. Its army still consisted of forty thousand men 
and its fortified towns and means of inundation showed the same ability 
of defence as had formerly been exerted ; but the resolution of the people 
was far inferior to the strength of their position. 

The peasantry of Switzerland, on the other hand, cradled in snowy 
mountains, tilling a sterile soil and habituated to hardships, exhibited at 
this time the same characteristics which have always rendered them cele- 
brated in European wars. Their lives were as simple, their courage as 
undaunted and their patriotism as warm as were those of their ancestors 
who fell at Morat or Morgarten : but as their troops did not exceed thirty- 
eight thousand in number, they could take little active part in the great 
contests that agitated the plains of Europe. 

The people of the Spanish Peninsula were able to assume a more dis- 
tinguished place in the strife for European freedom. This singular 
and mixed race, united to the tenacity of purpose which marked the 
Gothic, the fiery enterprise that characterized the Moorish blood : cen- 
turies of almost unbroken repose had neither extinguished the one nor 
abated the other; and Napoleon, at a later day, erroneously judged the 
temper of her people when he measured it by the inglorious reigns of the 
Bourbon dynasty. Her national strength had indeed declined, by reason 
of the accumulation of estates in the hands of noble families who were 
degenerated by long-continued intermarriages, and to the predominant 
influence of the Catholic priesthood : but the courage and prowess of her 
peasantry were unimpaired aad her ability to repel invasion was signally 
proved in many instances during the war. The nominal military strength 
of Spain was one hundred and forty thousand men ; but this force was 
far from being effective ; and in the first campaigns she was not able to 
muster eighty thousand combatants. 

The forces of France destined to contend with this immense aggregate 
of military strength, were far from being considerable at the commence- 
ment of the struggle. The infantry consisted of one hundred and sixty 
thousand men, the cavalry of thirty-five thousand, and the artillery often 
thousand. During the first stormy period of the Revolution, the discipline 
of the troops had declined ; and the custom of each man's judging for him- 
self had introduced into the army a degree of license wholly inconsistent 
with military subordination. These defects, however, were speedily 
remedied under the iron rule of the Convention. 

In contemplation of the approaching contest, a treaty of alliance, offen- 
sive and defensive, was concluded on the 7th of February, 1792, between 
Sweden and Austria ; but, it seemed that Providence was preparing a 
new race of actors for the mighty scenes now to be performed ; for Leo- 
pold of Austria died on the 1st of March following ; and on the 16th of 
the same month, Gustavus was assassinated at a masked ball. 

Leopold was succeeded by his son Francis, then but twenty-four years 
of age, whose reign was the most eventful, the most disastrous, and ulti- 
mately the most glorious in the Austrian annals. His first measures 
were popular and judicious; Kaunitz was continued as prime-minister, 
and with him were associated in the cabinet, Marshal Lascy and Count 
Francis Colloredo. He suppressed those articles in the journals which 
loaded him with praise, observing, " It is by my future conduct that I 
am to be judged worthy of praise or blame." When the list of pension- 
ers was submitted to his inspection, he erased the name of his mother, 



24 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. lU. 

saying that it was not becoming for her to be dependent on the bounty of 
the state. 

Hitherto, Great Britain had observed a strict neutrality toward France, 
but the progress of events soon forced her to a change of policy. The 
10th of August came ; the French throne was overturned ; the royal 
family imprisoned ; and the massacres of September stained Paris with 
blood. In the frenzy of their democratic fury, and intoxicated with suc- 
cess, the Revolutionary party adopted measures incompatible with the 
peace of other states. A Jacobin club of twelve hundred members was 
established at Chamberry, in Savoy, and one hundred of its most active 
individuals were selected as travelling missionaries "armed with the 
torch of reason and liberty, for the purpose of enlightening the Savoyards 
on their regeneration and imprescriptible rights." An address was voted 
by this club to the French Convention as "legislators of the world," and 
received by them on the 20th of October, 1792. They ordered it to be 
translated into the English, Spanish and German languages. The rebel- 
lious Savoyards next formed a Convention, in imitation of that of France, 
and offered to incorporate themselves with the great Republic. The 
French Convention promptly accepted the proffered dominion of Savoy, 
and united it to the Republic under the name of the Department of Mont 
Blanc. The seizure of Savoy was followed by that of Nice with its ter- 
ritory, and Monaco; these were styled the Department of the maritime 
Alps. Italy was the next object of attack, and Piedmont the first point 
assailed. To facilitate the work, a French fleet cast anchor in the Bay 
of Genoa, and a Jacobin club was established in that city. Kellerman, 
on assuming the command of the army of the Alps, informed his soldiers 
that he "had orders to conquer Rome, and the orders should be obeyed." 
The French ambassador at Rome was in the mean time so active in urg- 
ing the people to insurrection, that, when proceeding in his carriage to one 
of his conferences, he was seized by the mob, at whom he had discharged 
a pistol, and was murdered in the streets. Switzerland, too, and the 
smaller German principalities, were subjected to insult or sequestration. 
Finally, on the 19th of November, a decree was unanimously passed by 
the Convention, which openly placed the French Republic at war with 
all established governments. 

These unprecedented and alarming proceedings, joined to the rapid 
increase and treasonable language of the Jacobin societies in England, 
excited a general disquietude in that country ; and after some time spent 
in correspondence with the French government, matters were brought to 
a crisis by the execution of Louis. As there was now no longer even the 
shadow of a government in the French capital with which to maintain a 
diplomatic intercourse, the French minister was notified to quit the Brit- 
ish dominions within eight days; and on the 3rd of February, 1793, the 
French Convention declared war against Great Britain. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1792. 

After the decision of the Assembly for war, and the forced declaration 
of Louis to that effect, in April, 1792, three considerable armies were 
ordered to be formed. In the north, Marshal Rochambeau commanded 
forty thousand infantry and eight thousand cavalry, cantoned from Dun- 
kirk to Phillipville. In the centre. La Fayette was stationed with forty- 
five thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry, from PhilHpville to 
Lautre ; while Marshal Luckner, with thirty-five thousand infantry and 
eight thousand cavalry, observed the course of the Rhine from Bale to 
Lauterburg. In the south. General Montesquieu, with fifty thousand 
men, was charged with the defence of the line of the Pyrenees and the 
course of the Rhone. But these armies, however formidable their num- 
bers may sound, were as yet very inefficient, as the license of the Revo- 
lution had impaired their discipline, and destroyed their respect and 
confidence in their commanders. 

To oppose these forces, however, the allies made but an indifferent de- 
monstration. Fifty thousand Prussians and sixty-five thousand Austrians 
and Hessians were all that could at first be mustered at various points for 
the invasion of France. 

Encouraged by the inconsiderable Austrian force in the Low Countries, 
the French resolved to invade Flanders in four columns, and on the 28th 
of April, 1792, put themselves in motion ; but in every direction they were 
routed by the Austrians at Ihe first onset, so that the corps destined to 
advance to Furnes fell back on hearing of these reverses, and General 
La Fayette judged it prudent to suspend the mAOvement of his whole army 
and retire to his camp at Rancennes. 

The extreme facility with which this invasion of Flanders was repelled, 
astonished all Europe. The Prussians conceived the utmost contempt for 
their new opponents, and it is curious to recur to the sentiments they 
expressed on the occasion. " Do not buy too many horses," said the 
minister Bischoffswerder, to several officers of rank ; " the farce will not 
last long ; the army of lawyers will soon be annihilated." 

The Jacobins and war party at Paris, though extremely disconcerted 
by these disasters, had the address to conceal their apprehensions, and 
denounced the severest penalties against the real or supposed authors of 
the national disgrace. Energetic measures were taken to reenforce the 
armies. Rochambeau was dismissed and Luckner ordered to take his com- 
mand and resume offensive operations. But this feeble and irresolute old 
man was ill qualified to restore the confidence or efficiency of the army. 
He was defeated in his first movement, and at the same time La Fayette 
met with a signal overthrow. These events naturally increased the 
presumption of the allies, and rendered them indifferent about pressing o- 
with energy to strike a decisive blow. The Duke of Brunswick, who 
was intrusted with the command of the allied army, was alone adequately 
impressed with the importance of the campaign, and strongly urged the 
necessity of hastening their operations before the French could recover 
from their discomfiture and alarm. 



26 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. IV 

On the 25th of July, the King of Prussia joined the army, and on the 
same day the proclamation, already referred to in Chapter II., was issued 
in the name of the Duke of Brunswick ; though it was not drawn up by 
him, and he strenuously denounced its impolicy. On the 30th of July, 
the whole army broke up and entered the French territory. 

A triple barrier defended the eastern frontier of France, and the line 
of march proposed by the allies lay through the centre of the chain : there 
were but three fortresses on this line, Sedan, Longwy and Verdun, all 
at that time in a wretched condition, after which nothing but fertile plains 
interposed between the invaders and Paris. Under these circumstances, 
a powerful attack and rapid advance seemed the most prudent and effectual 
means of terminating the campaign ; and so it must have proved, had the 
allies displayed an energy adequate to the emergency. They advanced, 
indeed, but with inexplicable slowness and timidity ; took the fortress 
of Longwy after a three days' siege, received intelligence of the flight 
of La Fayette from his army, and at the end of six days invested Verdun. 
This fortress capitulated on the 2nd of September. Sedan and the forest 
of Aro-onne in its neighborhood were now the only impediments on the 
road to Paris. But the successes of the allies, great in effect, though 
trivial as military achievements, only increased their inactivity. They 
lingered around Verdun until Dumourier, who was dispatched from the 
Assembly to take command of the army, had occupied Sedan and the 
passes of the forest with twenty-five thousand men. But though a golden 
opportunity was thus wantonly thrown away, the allies displayed more 
activity and military conduct in the sequel. 

As it was now impossible to pursue his original line of advance or dis- 
lodge Dumourier by an attack in front, the Duke of Brunswick moved a 
part of his forces to Landres in order to turn the left of the French posi- 
tion. This compelled Dumourier to detach a portion of his right wing 
(which occupied the Croix au Bois, one of the five passes of the forest,) in 
order to reenforce his left ; when Clairfait, finding the defences of the 
Croix au Bois thus weakened, pushed on with a strong body of allies and 
made himself master of the pass : by this means, the allies were enabled 
to threaten the rear of the French and disturb their communications with 
the capital. Dumourier was now forced to retreat with a part of his 
army to St. Menehould ; but he still held the two most important passes 
of the Argonne (Islettes and Chalade,) and France had gained time to 
bring new forces into the field. Dumourier fortified his position at St. 
Menehould, and was soon joined by two considerable auxiliary armies 
under Kellerman and Bournonville, which raised th^ numbers and confi- 
dence of the Republicans to a footing of equality with the invaders. 

The Duke of Brunswick, after learning the movements of Dumourier, 
put his troops in motion, advanced through the unguarded defiles of the 
forest, and took post between the French army and Paris. The hostile 
forces were now in a singular position : the allies faced toward the Rhine, 
with their rear on Champagne ; while the French rear was at the forest 
of Argonne, and their front toward their own capital. An action imme- 
diately ensued on the field of Valmy, in which the allies had the advan- 
tage, but they did not follow it up, and the contending parties withdrew 
at nightfall to their original positions. But it is with an invading army 
as with an insurrection ; an indecisive action is equivalent to a defeat. 
This affair was merely a cannonade ; the loss on both sides did not exceed 



1792.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 27 

eight hundred men, yet it produced on the allies the effect of an overthrow: 
it proved that the French troops could endure fire with steadiness, and 
repel an assault with bravery ; and it destroyed the illusion under which 
both armies had hitherto labored — nameh^, that the allied troops, when 
joined on equal terms, were superior to the French. Indeed, the conduct 
of the Duke of Brunswick, both in this action and in the movements which 
tor three weeks preceded it, would be altogether inexplicable, if the 
external aspect of the military events were alone considered. The truth 
is, as it was afterward revealed, that during this time a secret negotiation 
was depending between the Duke and Dumourier, with the avowed 
object of obtaining the recognition by Dumourier of the constitutional 
throne, and to accomplish a junction between his force and the allies to 
sustain it. The Duke was quite sincere in this project, but it soon ap- 
peared that Dumourier was not, and he had encouraged the proposal and 
protracted the negotiations merely to gain time for the better organization 
of his forces. This accounts for the Duke's partial operations at Valmy ; 
he was fearful by a decided battle and probable victory of converting a 
promised ally into an irreconcileable opponent. 

No sooner was the action terminated, than the interchange of secret mes- 
sengers became more active than ever. Lombard, the private secretary 
of the Duke, allowed himself to be made prisoner in disguise, and con- 
ducted the negotiation. The Duke insisted on the immediate liberation of 
the French king, and the reestablishment of a constitutional monarchy ; 
while Dumourier avowed that, anxious as he was to accomplish these ob- 
jects, he could not hope to bring the Convention to such a decision until 
the allies should first evacuate the French territory ; and he reasoned that 
after rendering such signal service to his government, they would natu- 
rally yield to his influence in behalf of the king : on the other hand, should 
the allies refuse this preliminary condition, he would throw all his energies 
into the scale of war, which, with his present reenforcements, he was well 
able to maintain. Besides, were the contest continued, the lives of the 
king and the whole royal family would be sacrificed to the resentment of 
the Convention. 

These representations were so well put by Dumourier and sustained by 
such able arguments, that the allies after some discussion, in which the 
King of Prussia strenuously opposed the plan of Dumourier, finally con- 
sented to retreat ; agreeing to evacuate the fortresses they had taken on 
condition of being unmolested on their homeward march. They were not 
long in discovering that they had been trifled with ; but in the mean time, 
they had lost all their advantages, and the French frontier was put in a 
state of defence. 

Dumourier, having thus foiled the enemy by diplomacy and relieved the 
country from the danger that threatened it on the east, found himself at 
liberty to make a new attempt on Flanders. 

While these decisive events were taking place in the central provinces, 
operations of minor importance, though material to the issue of the cam- 
paign, were going on in Alsace and the Low Countries. The French 
camp at Maulde was broken up, and a retreat commenced toward the 
camp at Bruille, a strong position in the rear: but in executing this move- 
ment, they were, on the 14th of September, attacked and completely 
routed by the Austrians. Encouraged by this success, the Archduke 
Albert, with a force of twenty-five thousand men, undertook the siege of 



28 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. IV 

Lisle, one of the strongest towns in Europe, and which, in 1708, had made 
a glorious defence against the united armies of Eugene and Marlborough. 
The garrison consisted of ten thousand men, who, with their commander, 
a man of courage and ability, were devoted to the cause of the Republic. 
In this case, little success could be anticipated from a regular siege, but 
the Austrians endeavored to intimidate the garrison by a bombardment, 
which was continued night and day for a whole week. The soldiers, 
however, in their bomb-proof casements, were secure from this terrible 
storm which fell with desolating effect on the inhabitants: and soon after, 
the arrival of General Lamartiliere and the approach of Dumourier forced 
the Austrians to raise the siege and withdraw from France. This affair, 
also, estimated by its results, was regarded as a glorious triumph to the 
French arms, and inspired the Republican troops with new energy. 
Meanwhile, General Custine, who was posted near Landau with seventeen 
thousand Frenchmen, undertook an offensive movement against Spires, 
where the allies had collected large magazines. By a rapid advance, he 
surrounded and made prisoners a corps of three thousand men — an event 
that led to the immediate capture of Spires, Worms and Frankenthal. 
Custine next moved, at the head of an army now reenforced to twenty-two 
thousand men, against Mayence. He invested that important fortress on 
tlie 19th of October and on the 21st, by reason of Jacobin influence and 
defection in the garrison, it was forced to capitulate. The allies thus 
lost their only fortified post on the Rhine. 

Dumourier now advanced upon Flanders at the head of a central force 
of forty thousand men, in the highest spirits and anticipating nothing 
but triumph : while three auxiliary armies moved in the same direction, 
amounting together to sixty thousand men. 

The Austrians could bring to oppose Dumourier but eighteen thousand 
men : they were, however, intrenched at the village of Jemappes behind 
fourteen redoubts strengthened by all the resources of art and armed by 
nearly a hundred pieces of artillery : it was thought that the difference 
in position of the respective armies nearly atoned for their disparity in 
numbers, and both parties, with equal confidence, resolved on a general 
action. 

The battle commenced at daybreak on the 6th of November. General 
Bournonville led the first attack against the village of Cuesmes, on the Aus- 
trian left. A sustained fire of artillery for a time arrested his efforts, but 
at length the flank of Jemappes was turned and the redoubts on the left 
of the Austrian position were carried by an impetuous assault of the 
French infantry. Dumourier seized this momenj to bring his whole 
centre against the front of Jemappes. He moved on rapidly and with 
little loss till he reached the village, where his columns were disturbed and 
thrown into some confusion by a flank charge of the imperial cavalry, 
while the leading battalions, checked by a tremendous fire of grapeshot, 
were beginning to waver at the foot of the redoubts. In this extremity, a 
young general, rallying the broken regiments into one column, placed 
himself at its head, and renewed the attack with such spirit that the vil- 
lage and redoubts were carried and the Austrians driven at once from their 
intrenchments into the centre of the field beyond. This young officer was 
the Duke de Chartres, afterward Louis Philippe, king of the French. 
Meantime, Bournonville, though at first successful on the right, had not 
followed up his attack with sufficient vigor j the Austrians had rallied, 



1792.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 29 

returned to the charge, and Bournonville began, in turn, to give ground ; 
when Dumourier hastened to the spot and rode along in front of the waver- 
ing columns, who received him with cries of vive Dumourier f The effect 
was decisive : the Austrians were repulsed, and the French dragoons, 
taking advantage of their confusion, charged home and completely routed 
them. Dumourier now returned to the centre to reenforce the Duke de 
Chartres, but he had not proceeded far when an aid-de-camp met him with 
the intelligence that the battle there, as well as on the left, was already- 
won and the Austrians were retiring on all points to Mons. The Aus- 
trians lost in this action five thousand men ; but they saved all their artil- 
lery except fourteen pieces and withdrew from the field in good order. 
The French loss exceeded six thousand men, but they had gained a vic- 
tory which greatly increased the moral strength of their army and in fact 
led to the immediate conquest of the whole Netherlands ; for the Austrians 
were so disheartened by the defeat of Jemappes, that between their own 
want of conduct and the Jacobin influence which pervaded their garrisons, 
every fortress of the Low Countries, including Antwerp and Namur, fell 
into the hands of the French before the middle of December. 

But the revolutionary party in Flanders, which had contributed so much 
to the success of the French arms, soon reaped the bitter fruits of Repub- 
lican conquest. The French Convention issued a decree on the 15th of 
December, proclaiming in their conquered provinces, " the sovereignty 
of the people, the suppression of all the constituted authorities, subsisting 
taxes and imposts, feudal and territorial rights, the privileges of the nobility 
and exclusive privileges of every description." Immediately after the 
issuing of this decree, Flanders was inundated by a host of revolutionary 
agents, with " liberty," " patriotism," and " protection" on their tongues, 
and violence, confiscation and bloodshed in their measures. Danton, La- 
ci'oix and Carrier were at the head of this band ; and, infusing their own 
infernal energy into their agents, they gave the inhabitants of Flanders 
a foretaste of the Reign of Terror. 

The French troops, thus successful on the northern and eastern frontier, 
and also (as related at the close of the last Chapter) in Piedmont and 
Savoy on the southeastern side, were destined to some reverses on the 
Upper Rhine, where the King of Prussia, by a vigorous assault, took 
possession of Frankfort and slew or made prisoners its entire garrison, 
with the exception of two hundred men. As the season was now far ad- 
vanced, however, this success was not followed up, and both armies went 
into winter-quarters. 

Thus terminated the campaign of 1792 ; a period fraught with valuable 
instruction for the statesman and the soldier. The contagion of Repub- 
lican principles had gained for France many conquests, but the severity 
of Republican rule had rendered the delusion in the conquered provinces 
as short lived as it was fallacious. The campaign which opened under 
such untoward auspices, had been marked by brilliant success on the part 
of the French ; but it was evident that their conquests had exceeded their 
strength, and that at its close, their affairs in many quarters were de- 
clining. The army of Dumourier fell into the most disorderly state, 
whole battalions having deserted their colors and returned home or spread 
themselves as banditti over the vanquished territory. The armies of 
Bournonville and Custine were in little better condition, their recent fail- 
ures having gone far to neutralize the effect of their previous success ; 



30 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. V. 

while the troops who had overrun Savoy and Piedmont, were suffering 
under the consequences of their own plunder and devastation in the dis- 
tricts where they were quartered. 



CHAPTER V. 

FRENCH REPUBLIC FROM THE DEATH OF THE KING TO THE FALL OF 

ROBESPIERRE. 

It is necessary, now, to resume the narrative of events in the French 
Capital, where the recent death of the king had disappointed by its results 
the expectations of his murderers, and, by increasing their reciprocal 
hatred, had excited them to renew with even aggravated ferocity their 
strife of violence, outrage and blood. 

The difficulty of procuring subsistence in Paris — the necessary result 
of revolutionary convulsions — had increased to an alarming degree during 
the months of February and March, 1793. Dread of pillage and unwill- 
ingness of the cultivators to sell their conmiodities for payment in the depre- 
ciated currency — for the issue of assignats was unlimited and confidence 
in their value was already destroyed — rendered abortive the efforts of 
government to supply the public necessities. At the same time, the price 
of every article of consumption increased so greatly as to excite the most 
vehement clamors among the people and soon inflamed them to fury. A 
tumultuous body surrounded the hall of the Jacobins urging them to peti- 
tion the Convention for a law reducing the prices of provisions, the penalty 
of which should be death. The demand was refused ; and Marat, on the 
following morning, published a violent tirade in his journal directly re- 
commending the pillage of the shops. The populace were not slow in 
following his suggestion, and many shops were accordingly broken open 
and ransacked. All the public bodies were filled with consternation at 
these disorders. The shop-keepers especially, who had been at the first 
such decided revolutionists, were in despair when anarchy approached 
their own doors. 

In the midst of this convulsion, the Jacobins, despite the opposition of 
the Girondists, organized a Revolutionary Tribunal which was empowered 
to "take cognizance of every attempt against liberty^ equality, the unity 
and indivisibility of the Republic, the internal and external security of 
the state, all conspiracies tending to the reestablishment of royalty, or 
hostile to the sovereignty of the people, whoever might be the parties 
accused." The members of the jury, the judges, and the public accuser 
were chosen by the Convention ; the Tribunal decided on the opinion of a 
majority of the jury ; the decision of the court was without appeal ; and 
the effects of the condemned were confiscated to the Republic. The pub- 
lic accuser was Fouquier Tinville, and his name soon became as terrible 
as that of Robespierre. 

The creation of this fearful Tribunal gave the greatest alarm to the 
Girondists, and they found it indispensable from mere self-defence to give 
some check to the mad career of the Jacobins. They accordingly, by a 



1793.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 31 

great effort, caused Marat to be sent for trial to the Revolutionary Tribu- 
nal, on a charge of having instigated the people to demand the punishment 
of the national representatives. This was the first instance of destroying 
the privilege of inviolability of the members of the Convention ; but the Ja- 
cobins were not idle in counteracting it. Their leaders accompanied 
Marat to the Tribunal, influenced its deliberations, obtained his acquit- 
tal, and brought him back in triumph. An immense multitude followed 
them to the hall, crowded into it with shouts, and seated themselves 
in the vacant places of the deputies. 

Defeated 'in this attempt, the Girondists saw that there was no time to 
be lost in making some new organization. Guadet, one of their most 
energetic members, rose in his place and proposed to " annul the author- 
ities of Paris, to replace the municipality by the presidents of the Sections, 
to unite the supplementary members of the Convention at Bourges, and to 
announce this resolution to the departments by extraordinary couriers." 
These decisive measures, if adopted, would have destroyed the designs 
and influence of the Jacobins ; but they would also have occasioned a 
civil war, and, by dividing the centre of action, augmented the danger of 
foreign subjugation. Barere saw this, and proposed " a commission of 
twelve persons to watch over the designs of the municipality, to examine 
into the recent disorders, and arrest tlieir authors," but he denounced the 
measures of Guadet as a virtual declaration that they were unequal to 
combat the influence of the municipality. This proposal was adopted. 

The Commission of Twelve commenced their proceedings with vigor. 
They were aware that a conspiracy against the Girondists in the Conven- 
tion had for some time been organized in Paris by the club of Cordeliers, 
who demanded the proscription of three hundred deputies. The Commis- 
sion obtained evidence of this conspiracy and arrested one of its leaders, 
Hebert. The municipality denounced this arrest and invited the people 
to revolt. Some of the most violent of the Revolutionary Sections followed 
the example, while the more moderate ones who held out for the Conven- 
tion were besieged by clamorous bands of armed men. 

On the 25th of May, a furious multitude assembled around the hall of 
the Convention, and sent a deputation to the bar of that body, demanding 
in the most threatening terms the suppression of the Commission of Twelve 
and the liberation of Hebert. Isnard, president of the Assembly, a cour- 
ageous Girondist, replied indignantly, refusing the demand and averring 
that if the Convention were again to be outraged by an armed faction, 
France would rise as one man to avenge their cause, Paris would be des- 
troyed, and strangers would soon inquire on which side of the Seine it 
formerly stood. 

For the time, the conspirators were baffled and forced to retire : but they 
resolved to proceed to insurrection. The remainder of that day and the 
whole of the next was spent in agitation and in exciting the people by 
inflammatory harangues ; and such was their success, that by the morn- 
ing of the 27th, eight-and-twenty of the Sections were assembled to peti- 
tion for the liberation of Hebert. The Commission of Twelve could now 
rely on the armed force of three Sections only ; yet these hastened on the 
first summons to the support of the Convention, and ranged themselves with 
their arms and artillery around the outside of the hall. But an immense 
multitude crowded about their ranks ; cries of " death to the Girondists!" 
resounded on all sides, and the hearts of the most resolute began to quail. 



32 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. V. 

Within the hall, the Girondists with difficulty maintained their ground 
against the Jacobins, when Garat, the Minister of the Interior, entered 
and deprived them of their last resource — their position of unbending firm- 
ness. When called on to report the state of Paris, he declared that he 
could find no evidence or appearance of a conspiracy, and in his judg- 
ment the Convention was threatened with no danger but a mischievous 
spirit within themselves to create dissension. It is but justice to Garat 
to say, that he had been deceived into making this report by the artful 
misrepresentations of Pache, the mayor of Paris. Astounded by this 
report, so entirely the reverse of what they anticipated and coming as it 
did from a minister of their own choice, the Girondists were struck dumb; 
the greater part of them withdrew at once and the courageous Isnard was 
forced to yield the chair to Herault de Sechelles. The motion was then 
put, that the Commission of Twelve be abolished and Hebert set at liberty : 
it was carried at midnight amid the shouts of the mob, who climbed over 
the rails and voted on the benches of the Mountain with the Jacobins. 

The Girondists, on the following morning, ashamed of their untimely 
desertion, assembled in force and reversed the decree of the Jacobins by 
a decided majority. The agitation, which had begun to subside, was now 
renewed with increased violence. The leaders of the Jacobins organized 
a new insurrection, collected a large body of armed men whom they 
placed under the command of Henriot, and on the morning of the 31st of 
May, marched to the Tuileries where the Convention was assembled. 
Under these auspices, a new petition was presented demanding the sup- 
pression of the Commission, a law reducing the price of bread, and the 
proscription of twenty-two leaders of the Gironde. The debate that en- 
sued was violent to the last degree ; but the stern energy of the Jacobins 
supported by the armed mob in part prevailed, and a majority voted to 
suppress the Commission. 

But the Revolutionists had no intention of stopping here. On the even- 
ing of that day, Varennes declared in the club of the Jacobins that the 
work was only half done, and that it must be completed before the 
ardor of the people had time to cool. Additional preparations were there- 
fore made, and at daybreak on the 2nd of June, all Paris was under arms. 
The forces now assembled were formidable indeed. One hundred and 
sixty pieces of cannon manned by gunners with lighted matches in their 
hands, resembled rather the preliminaries for assaulting a powerful for- 
tress than demonstrations against an unarmed legislature. By ten o'clock, 
the avenues to the Tuileries were blockaded by dense columns of artillery, 
and eighty thousand armed men surrounded the defenceless representa- 
tives of the people. 

Again the debate grew wild and vehement, and the whole Assembly 
was in the utmost agitation, when Lacroix, one of its members and an in- 
timate friend of Danton, entered the hall with a haggard air and announced 
that the troops at the gate had refused to let him pass out, and that the 
Convention was in fact imprisoned within the walls of the Tuileries. With 
these words, he had unconsciously proclaimed the secret of the conspira- 
tors : the insurrection was not conducted by Danton and the Mountain, 
but by Robespierre and the municipality. Danton rose at once and pro- 
posed that the members should go forth in a body to resent this insult, and 
the president accordingly led the way, followed by the whole Convention. 
They were met by Henriot at the principal gate leading to the Place du 



1793.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 33 

Carrousel, who demanded the surrender of four-and-twenty of the culpable 
deputies. This was indignantly refused, when Henriot replied " Cannon- 
iers! to your guns!" Two guns charged with grapeshot were imme- 
diately brought to bear on the members of the Convention, who instinctively 
shrunk back, and after vainly attempting to escape by the other gates, 
returned in dismay to the hall. Marat followed them at the head of 
a body of brigands, crying, " In the name of the people, 1 order you to 
enter, deliberate and obey !" When the members were seated, Couthon 
rose and proposed that thirty of the Girondists, whose names he called 
over, should be put under arrest. A great portion of the members refused 
to vote, and this suicidal measure was carried by the sole voice of the 
Mountain and a few of its adherents. The multitude now cheered and 
dispersed : their victory was complete ; the municipality of Paris had 
overthrown the National Convention. 

The proscribed members were at first put under arrest in their own 
houses, and several found the means of escape before the order was issued 
for their imprisonment : but the greater part were consigned to the prison 
and thence conducted to the scaffold. The political career of the Giron- 
dists was now terminated : thenceforward, they were known only as in- 
dividuals by their resolute conduct in adversity and death. 

The aspect of the Convention, after this event, was entirely changed: 
the Jacobins had absolute control of its proceedings, and all decrees pro- 
posed by them were adopted in silence without any discussion. The 
practical administration of affairs was lodged in the hands of the Com- 
mittee of Public Safety which had been created some months before ; the 
superintendence of the police was vested in a Committee of General 
Safety ; while the internal regulation of the city was confided to the 
municipality of Paris. Each of these departments was invested with 
despotic power and executed its prerogative with terrible energy. 

Opinions throughout the provinces of France were greatly divided at 
this crisis. The magistracy of the cities had for the most part, under the 
operation of universal suffrage, fallen into the hands of the Jacobins, and 
that faction had organized clubs in almost every corner of the kingdom, so 
that the preponderance of effective power was in their hands : yet the 
majority of numbers in France was undoubtedly on the opposite side. 
The catastrophe of the 2nd of June threw the whole of the southern depart- 
ments into a flame. At Lyons, Marseilles and Bordeaux, violent agitations 
ensued and the outrage of arresting the deputies excited among the Giron- 
dists the most lively indignation. On the 13th of June, the department 
of Eure gave the signal of insurrection, a great part of Normandy followed 
the example, and all the departments of Brittany were in arms. In short, 
so rapidly did the disaffection spread, seventy departments were in a state 
of insurrection and but fifteen remained true to the Jacobin interest. 
The want of an efficient organization, however, prevented this general 
outbreak from accomplishing any important result : and as the Convention 
put forth all its energies to maintain its supremacy, the insurrection was 
crushed almost as speedily as it arose. 

The Committee of Public Safety thenceforward exercised all the powers 
of the government. It appointed and dismissed the generals, the judges 
and t]\e juries, brought forward all public measures in the Convention and 
launched its thunder again.st every opposing faction. By means of its 
commissioners, it ruled the provinces, generals and armies with absolute 
B 



84 HISTORY OFEUROPE.» [Chap. V. 

sway ; and, soon after, the law of suspected individuals placed the personal 
freedom of every subject at its disposal : the Revolutionary Tribunal ren- 
dered it the master of every life ; the requisitions, master of every for- 
tune ; and the accusations in the Convention, mastei of every member 
of the Legislature. 

The law of suspected persons declared all those liable to arrest, who 
" by their conduct, their relations, their conversation, or their writing, 
have shown themselves the partisans of tyranny or the enemies of free- 
dom ; all those who have not discharged their debts to the country ; all 
nobles ; the husbands, wives, parents, children, brothers, sisters, or agents 
of emigrants who have not incessantly manifested their devotion to the 
Revolution." Under this law, no one had any chance of safety but in 
going to the utmost length of revolutionary fury. 

The Revolutionary Committees were declared the judges of the persons 
liable to arrest. Their numbers augmented with frightful rapidity. Paris 
soon had forty-eight, and every village throughout the country had one or 
more. Five hundred thousand persons drawn from the dregs of society to 
serve on these Committees, disposed of the life and liberty of every man 
in France. No better description can be given of the tyranny of these 
despotic Commissioners than is furnished by the report of one of their num- 
ber to the Convention. " Everywhere," said Laplanche, " I have made 
terror the order of the day ; everywhere I have imposed heavy contribu- 
tions on the rich and the aristocrats. From Orleans I have extracted fifty 
thousand francs ; and in two days at Bourges, I raised two millions. 
Where I could not appear in person, my delegates have supplied my 
place. I have dismissed all the Federalists, dismissed all the suspected, 
put all the Sans Culottes in authority. I have forcibly married all the 
priests, and everywhere electrified the hearts and inflamed the courage 
of the people. I have passed in review numerous battalions of the National 
Guard, to confirm their Republican spirit, and guillotined numbers of the 
Royalists. In a word, I have completely fulfilled my mandate and acted 
everywhere as a warm partisan of the Mountain and faithful representa- 
tive of the Revolution." 

To obliterate as far as possible all former recollections, the Convention 
established a new era, changed the division of the years, and gave new 
names to the months and days. The ancient and sacred institution of 
the Sabbath was abolished ; the period of rest fixed at every tenth day ; 
time was measured by divisions of ten days, aAd the year divided into 
twelve equal months, beginning on the 22nd of September. These 
changes were preparatory to a general abolition of the Christian religion 
and a substitution of the worship of Reason in its stead. 

While these events were in progress, the arm of female enthusiasm 
arrested the course of one of the tyrants. Charlotte Corday, a native of 
Rouen, five-and-twenty years of age, conceived a project of restoring lib- 
erty to her country by the assassination of Marat, and repaired to Paris 
for that purpose. On a pretence of business of the state, she gained 
admission to his presence while he was in a bath and stabbed him with a 
knife. He uttered a loud shriek and expired, when some soldiers rushed 
in, seized Charlotte and conducted her to prison. On her trial, she inter- 
rupted the witnesses, saying, " These formalities are unnecessary ; I killed 
Marat." She was condemned to death without delay, and underwent the 
penalty of her crime with the same courage as she exhibited in com- 



1793.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 35 

Robespierre and his associates made the assassination of Marat the 
ground for increased severity toward the broken remains of the Girondists, 
seventy-three of whom were speedily proscribed and thrown into prison. 
Marie Antoinette, the beautiful and accomplished Queen of France, was 
the next victim. Since the death of the king, the unfortunate royal family 
had been closely confined in the Temple and subjected to new insults and 
deprivations. Their fare was reduced to the humblest kind ; and wicker 
lamps were the only lights and the coarsest habiliments the only dress, 
accorded to them. The young prince was next separated from his mother 
and placed in solitary confinement under the charge of Simon. " What 
am I to do with the child ?" said Simon to the Committee : " banish him?" 
"No." "Stab him?" "No." " Poison him ?" "No." "What then?" 
" Get rid of him V This direction was too faithfully executed. Deprived 
of air, exercise, occupation, the ill-fated prince pined away and died. 

Meantime, the queen, after having been for a while also subjected to 
solitary confinement in a dark and loathsome cell, was brought to trial. 
Few formalities were observed on this occasion. Some witnesses were 
called, but none of them could or would testify anything against her, 
excepting the monsters Hebert and Simon : but she was not the less con- 
demned by her murderous judges. She was conducted to the place of 
execution on the 16th of October, and died with a firmness worthy of 
her race. 

The execution of the queen was followed by a measure of singular 
wantonness and bai'barity : this was the violation of the sepulchres of the 
kings of France and the destruction of the monuments of antiquity through- 
out the kingdom. The Convention next proceeded formally to abjure 
Christianity ; or, in their own phrase, " to dethrone the King of Heaven 
as well as the monarchs of the earth." This monstrous act was consum- 
mated by the Assembly with forms and ceremonies, after which the 
churches were stripped of their ornaments and all their plate was confis- 
cated. The worship of Reason was next established, and the goddess of 
the faith inaugurated in the person of a naked female of abandoned char- 
acter, who was mounted on a magnificent car, conducted in triumph to 
the cathedral of Notre Dame, and there worshipped by the infatuated mob. 

The services of religion were now universally abandoned, and the pul- 
pits deserted throughout the revolutionized districts ; baptisms ceased ; 
the burial service was no longer heard ; the sick received no communion; 
the dying, no consolation. The village bells were silent; the Sabbath 
was obliterated ; infancy entered the world without a blessing, and age 
left it without hope. On every tenth day, a Revolutionary preacher 
ascended the pulpit and preached atheism to the bewildered multitude. 
On all the public cemeteries was placed this inscription, " Death is an 
eternal sleep." At the same time, the most sacred relations of life were 
placed on a new footing. Marriage was declared a civil contract, binding 
only during the pleasure of the contracting parties. A decree of the Con- 
vention also suppressed the academies, public schools and colleges, inclu- 
ding those of medicine and surgery. And in this general havoc, even the 
establishments of chanty were not safe. The revenues of the hospitals 
and humane institutions were confiscated and their domains seized as part 
of the national property. 

The Jacobins next proceeded to destroy their former friends and the 
earliest supporters of the Revolution. Bailly, Custine, and the Duke of 
B2 



86 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. V. 

Orleans, with many others of less note, were successively led to the scaf- 
fold ; and ere long Robespierre, finding his individual plans and aggrand- 
izement impeded by his rival, managed to cause the accusation and arrest 
of Danton, with some other powerful antagonists. This last measure pro- 
duced a violent agitation in Paris, and some attempt was made at a rescue, 
but the power of Robespierre was absolute for the time, and Danton and 
Desmoulins were brought to trial. Here, they evinced their wonted firm- 
ness. Danton, being interrogated by the president concerning his age and 
profession, replied, "My name is Danton, well known in the Revolution; 
my age is thirty-five ; my abode will soon be in nonentity, and my name 
will live in the pantheon of history." Desmoulins, in reply to the same 
question, said he was of the same age " as the Sans Culotte, Jesus Christ, 
when he died." They displayed equal hardihood in their defence, and 
some of the Convention were not a little moved by their denunciations : 
but the influence of Robespierre at last prevailed, and they were con- 
demned. In these cases, as in all the trials of the period, neither crime 
nor proof were essential to conviction : many that fell well deserved to 
die ; but for both innocent and guilty the real question was, not whether 
the parties had committed a crime, but whether a majority of the Con- 
vention desired their death. 

The execution of Danton was followed by immediate and unqualified sub- 
mission in every part of France ; and Robespierre became in truth the 
sole dictator of the Republic. The vigor of his uncontrolled sway was 
soon felt. From an estimate made under his direction, it was ascertained 
that seven thousand prisoners, consisting of men, women and children, were 
on various pretexts now confined in the prisons of Paris, while the total 
throughout France exceeded two hundred thousand. As this number 
involved great expense and inconvenience to the government, and the 
present system of arrest was fast increasing it, it became necessary to 
inspire the Revolutionary Tribunal with new energy that, by accelerating 
the movements of the guillotine, the prisons might be relieved of their 
accumulating burdens. The number of executions, in Paris alone, was 
therefore raised to fifty and finally to eighty in a day : a trench was dug 
as far as the Place St. Antoine to carry off the blood of the victims, and 
it I'equired the constant labor of four men to keep it in order. 

The insolence of power and the atrocious cruelty of Revolutionary 
revenge were, if possible, more strongly evinced in the provinces than in 
the metropolis. Le Brun especially distinguished himself in the northern 
districts, by the aggravated character as well as by the number of his 
butcheries : upward of two thousand persons were executed by his orders 
in the city of Arras. The career of Carrier at Nantes was still more 
relentless. He caused five hundred children of both sexes, the eldest of 
whom was not fourteen years old, to be led out into one place and shot. 
So deplorable a scene was never before witnessed. The smallness of their 
stature caused most of the bullets, at the first discharge, to fly over their 
heads — for the soldier in regular service is taught to fire on the level of 
his own shoulder, and the troops on this occasion did so from the force of 
habit. Immediately, the children broke their bonds, rushed into the ranks 
of their executioners, clung around their knees and prayed for mercy : 
but nothing could soften these assassins, and the helpless innocents were 
slaughtered at their feet. At Lyons, other modes of butchery were in- 
troduced by Collot d'Herbois. Sixty captives were first placed in a line 



1794.1 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 87 

by the side of a trench dug for their graves, and two pieces of cannon 
loaded with grape and so placed as to enfilade the line, were discharged 
upon them: those who did not fall or were only wounded by the shot, were 
then dispatched by the gendarmes with sabres. On the following day, 
more than two hundred prisoners were taken into a meadow, fastened to 
«ach other with cords and dispatched by musketry. These fusillades 
were continued for some days, and in the mean time the guillotine was in 
active operation. 

But there is a limit to human suffering ; an hour when indignant nature 
will no longer submit, and courage arises out of despair. That avenging 
hour was fast approaching. The lengthened files of prisoners daily led 
to the scaffold had long excited the commiseration of the better classes in 
Paris : the shops in the Rue St. Honore were shut and its pavement de- 
serted when the melancholy procession, on its regular route to the guillo- 
tine, passed along : and the people at length became alarmed at the rapid 
progress and evident descent of the proscriptions. While the aristocrats 
and nobility were alone condemned, they looked on at first with joy, and 
afterward with comparative indifference ; but now the extending grasp 
of the tyrant approached their own doors, and they began to deliberate on 
the possibility and the means of assailing Robespierre in the height of his 
power. The majority of the Convention themselves adopted these views; 
and Robespierre, aware of some hostile movement but ignorant of its ex- 
tent, prepared for a trial of strength with his antagonists. He communi- 
cated his suspicions and purposes to the most trusty .Tacobin leaders, and 
at length an insurrection was organized to break out on the 27th of July. 
The leaders of the Convention were not idle : they spent the night of the 
■26th in planning their measures, and before daybreak were all firmly 
united for the overthrow of the tyrant. 

At an early hour on the morning of the 27th, the benches were thronged 
by the deputies, and the leaders passed around from one member to another 
to confirm them in their bold resolution. At noon, Robespierre entered 
the hall and took his station near the tribune, in front, so that he might 
intimidate his adversaries by his looks : but notwithstanding the extent of 
his preparations, he was daunted by the appearance of the Assembly : his 
knees trembled, the color fled from his lips, and he seemed already to 
anticipate his fate. 

His minion and advocate, St. Just, took the lead by denouncing his 
enemies ; but he was interrupted by Tallien, who replied in a speech of 
vehement eloquence, boldly recommended extreme measures, and ended 
by drawing a dagger from his bosom and protesting, that if the Convention 
hesitated to pass a decree of accusation against Robespierre, he would 
himself stab him where he sat. 

During this speech, Robespierre sat motionless with terror, and at its 
conclusion he strove in vain to obtain a hearing : the president, Thuriot, 
whom he had often threatened with death, constantly drowned his voice 
by ringing his bell. Various cries of appeal on the one hand and exe- 
cration on the other ensued ; but at length, Robespierre, Le Bas, Couthon, 
St. Just, and others were by a unanimous vote put under arrest and sent 
to prison : the Assembly then broke up at five o'clock in the afternoon. 
No sooner were the partisans of Robespierre aware of his arrest, than they 
sounded the tocsin, mustered their forces, and, proceeding to the prison, 
liberated and bore him in triumph to the Hotel de Ville. The Conven- 
B3 



38 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap.V. 

tion reassembled at seven o'clock, resolved to maintain their ground in 
defiance of consequences. They were soon informed that the artillery 
under Henriot, who had also been liberated, was now arrayed against 
them, and the guns were at that moment pointed against the hall. In this 
extremity, Tallien and his friends acted with the firmness which in revo- 
lutions so often proves successful. He instantly recommended several 
energetic measures which were as promptly adopted, and messengers 
were dispatched to enforce them, when Henriot ordered the artillery to 
fire on the Assembly. The fate of France hung on the decision of these 
men ; and, happily, they refused to obey the order. The aspect of things 
was now entirely changed, and the Convention became the assailants. 
The National Guard declared itself in their favor, marched to the Hotel 
de Ville, overbore all resistance, and Meda, with a few files of soldiers, 
rushed into the apartment where the liberated prisoners were assembled. 
Robespierre was sitting by a table, and Meda discharged a pistol at him, 
which broke his under jaw, but did not inflict a mortal wound. Le Bas 
shot himself and the rest were taken. The Revolutionary Tribunal made 
but short work with the trial, and the prisoners were all condemned. 

On the morning of July 29th, all Paris was in motion to witness the 
tyrant's death. Twenty of his comrades were executed before him. When 
he ascended the scaffold, the executioner tore the bandage from his face, 
the lower jaw fell on his breast, and he uttered a yell which filled every 
one with horror. He was then placed under the axe, and the last sounds 
which reached his ears were the exulting shouts of the multitude. 

Thus terminated the Reign of Terror : a period fraught with more polit- 
ical instruction than any other period of equal duration since the beginning 
of the world. The extent to which blood was shed during its continuance 
will hardly be credited by future ages : but it is correctly stated that the 
number of victims reached one million, twenty-two thousand, three hundred 
and fifty-one. Of this number, eighteen thousand six hundred and three 
were guillotined by the order of the Revolutionary Tribunals ; thirty-two 
thousand were victims under Carrier, at Nantes ; thirty-one thousand, 
at Lyons ; three thousand four hundred women died of premature child- 
birth ; three hundred and forty-eight in childbirth, from grief; and there 
were slain, during the war in La Vendee (of which an account will pre- 
sently be given,) nine hundred thousand men, .fifteen thousand women, 
and twenty-two thousand children. In this enumeration are not com- 
prehended the massacres at Versailles ; at the Abbey, the Carmes and 
other prisons on the 2nd of September ; the victims shot at Toulon and 
Marseilles ; or the persons slain in the little town of Bedoin, of which the 
whole population perished. 



CHAPTER VI 



WAR IN LA VENDEE. 



The district, immortalized by the name of La Vendue, embraces a part 
of Poitou, of Anjou, and of the territory of Nantes. The country differs 
both in its external aspect and the manners of its inhabitants from any 
other part of France. The northern division, called the Bocage, is sprin- 
kled with trees, and is composed chiefly of inconsiderable and detached 
hills surrounded by fertile valleys, and the farnxs, which are small and 
numerous, are inclosed by stout hedges. The southern part, adjoining 
the ocean, is called the Marais ; it is perfectly flat and interspersed with 
salt-marshes. The whole is mostly a grazing country, and the inhabit- 
ants live on the produce and sale of their cattle. A single great i-oad 
from Nantes to Rochelle traverses the district, and another from Tours to 
Bordeaux diverges from it, leaving between them a space of thirty leagues 
in extent, intereected by innumerable cross-roads, dug out, as it were, 
between two hedges, the branches of which frequently meet over the pas- 
senger's head. This peculiar conformation affords the greatest obstacles 
to an invading army. 

The distinctions between landholder and tenantry, in La Vendee, were 
almost nominal. A moderation of views on the one hand, and an unusual 
degree of virtue and intelligence on the other, combined with a universal 
religious sway that their excellent village pastors held over all, rendered 
the whole people a band of brothers who lived in harmony, detesting every 
species of innovation, and knew no principle in politics or religion but to 
fear God and honor the king. 

Hence it followed that the violence of the Revolutionary party in Paris 
and elsewhere early aroused the indignation of the Vendcans, who uni- 
formly took part with the king ; and the attempt to enforce the levy of 
troops ordered by the Convention in 1793, occasioned a general resistance 
which, without any previous concert, broke out simultaneously over the 
whole of La Vendee. The earlier movements on both sides were con- 
fined to skirmishes between detached parties, in almost all of which the 
Vendeans were successful ; so that the Convention soon found it necessa- 
ry to increase the number of their troops and introduce more system into 
their manner of conducting the war. These measures and the success 
which had induced them, stimulated the Vendeans, also, to renewed exer- 
tions. Large numbers of the hardy peasantry flocked to the royal standr 
ard, and some of the citizens most distinguished by birth or talent placed 
themselves at the head of the troops. 

M. Bonchamps, commanding the army of Anjou, was among the most 
able of the Royalist leaders : to great courage and eloquence he united 
consummate military ability ; and, had his life been spared, would proba- 
bly have proved himself one of the greatest commanders of the age. 
Cathelineau, a peasant by birth ; Henri de Larochejacquelein, son of the 
Marquis of that name ; M. de Lescure, an intimate friend of Larochejac- 
quelein ; M. d'Elbee, a Saxon ; and Stofflet, an Alsacian, also became dis- 
tinguished as leaders in this war ; and Charette, the last of this illustrious 
band, attained great eminence as a Vendean chief before the conclusion 



40 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chaf. VI. 

of the struggle. The troops commanded by these chiefs were divided into 
three corps, which, with some bodies of reserve, amounted in all to 
nearly seventy thousand men. 

The orders of the Convention to the troops sent to suppress this insur- 
rection, were marked by the bloody spirit which characterized all their 
proceedings : they decreed that those persons who had taken any part in 
the revolt were outlaws, and should be shot within twenty-four hours by a 
military commission ; and that the property of those so shot, together with 
that of all who were slain in battle, should be confiscated. 

But the Republicans soon found that they had a more formidable ene- 
my to contend with in the Vendean army than in the unarmed masses of 
citizens at Paris. The first expedition of the Royalists was directed against 
the city of Thouars, occupied by General Queteneau with a division of 
seven thousand men. The greater part of the troops in this affair were 
undisciplined peasantry ; yet, such was the bravery of the leaders and the 
devotion of the men, the town was carried by assault, and six thousand 
prisoners, with twelve pieces of cannon and twenty caissons, fell into the 
hands of the Royalists : nor is it the least remarkable feature of this vic- 
tory, that not an inhabitant of the place was maltreated nor a house pil- 
laged. The Vendeans next advanced against Chataignerie, which was gar- 
risoned by four thousand Republicans, and carried it by a vigorous attack ; 
but in this instance the garrison, after suffering severe loss, escaped 
to Fontenay, where the Royalists followed them. The attack on this 
latter town was at first unsuccessful : for the peasants, unused to long 
marches and satisfied with what they had achieved, disbanded themselves 
in large masses and returned to their homes, so that the army was re- 
duced to an inefficiency of numbers, and compelled to fall back to Cha- 
taignerie. The services of the clergy were, however, called to the aid 
of the army ; and the peasantry, giving more heed to their spiritual than to 
their temporal leaders, rejoined their standards. The combat could now be- 
renewed on more equal terms, and the Royalists again advanced to Fon- 
tenay, where the Republicans, ten thousand strong with forty pieces of ar- 
tillery, were drawn up to receive them. Bonchamps commanded the right, 
Cathelineau the centre, and d'Elbee the left, while Larochejacquelein led 
a small but determined body of cavalry. At first, the Vendeans faltered 
under the sustained discharge of grape shot from the Republican batte- 
ries ; but Lescure walked forward toward the guns, remained fcr some 
moments in the very midst of the iron storm, and cried out to his men that 
they could see from his standing there in safety that the Republicans did 
not know how to fire. The men then rallied, followed him to the muzzles- 
of the guns and drove the artillerymen into the town. Lescure still led 
the pursuit : his troops entered Fontenay with the fugitives and he himself 
was the first Royalist within the gates. The town immediately surren- 
dered whh its artillery, stores, and ammunition ; and the greater part of 
the Republican army were made prisoners. 

The Royalists became now much perplexed about the disposal of their 
prisoners, of whom they had several thousands. To retain them in cus- 
tody was impossible, as they had no fortified places within their own lim- 
its ; to follow the example of the Republicans and murder them, was out 
of the question ; at length it was decided to shave their heads and send 
them home, a proceeding that caused no small merriment to the soldiers. 

The Vendeans were also successful in other quarters. They gained 



1794.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 4l 

victories at Vetiers, Done and Montreuil ; and at length, resolved to at- 
tack the important city of Saunmr, where the Republicans were assembled 
to the number of twenty-two thousand regular troops, besides a large body 
of National Guards. The Royalist army, forty thousand strong, approached 
Saumur on the 10th of J>me. While the officers were concerting a 
plan of attack, the enthusiastic peasants threw themselves without orders 
on the advanced guard of the Republicans, and actually made their way 
into the town in great numbers : but as they acted without leaders and 
without system, they could not improve their advantage and were driven 
back. Such troops, however, are easily rallied. The officers took com- 
mand of the retreating mass, led them back in order, and after a desperate 
contest, carried the town. This victory was more important than any that 
had yet been gained over the Republicans by the allied sovereigns of Eu- 
rope. Eighty pieces of cannon, ten thousand muskets, and more than 
twelve thousand prisoners fell into the hands of the Vendeans, while their 
own loss was but sixty men killed and four hundred wounded. The vic- 
tors, as before, shaved the heads of their prisoners and sent them home, 
stipulating only that they should not serve against La Vendee : an illu- 
sory condition, speedily violated by the bad faith of the Republicans. 

The Royalist leaders, flushed with victory, now advanced on Nantes, 
although a second time the peasants, tired of the war, had withdrawn 
from the ranks in great numbers. But the expedition ended in disaster. 
Cathelineau was mortally wounded, and the assault repulsed with consid- 
ci'able loss to the Vendeans. 

In the mean time, the Republicans took the offensive, and sent a consid- 
erable army under Westerman into the heart of La Vendee. The inva- 
sion was at first successful ; three towns were taken and burned ; but the 
brave peasantry gathered round their assailants, harassed them, and 
finally drove Westerman before them with the loss of two-thirds of his 
forces. A second invasion under Biron with fifty thousand troops, met 
with a similar reverse : he was defeated with the loss of ten thousand men 
and all his artillery, baggage and ammunition. But these defeats had the 
natural effect of exasperating a comparatively powerful government, who 
had large resources in men and material at their control. The Conven- 
tion therefore redoubled their efforts to subdue the refractory insurgents. 
Fourteen thousand men, under Kleber, were directed upon La Vendee, a 
great part of the garrisons of Valenciennes and Conde were marched to 
the same quarter, and the National Guard, together with a levy en masse 
of the neighboring departments, soon followed in the same direction. Be- 
fore the middle of September, two hundred thousand men surrounded La 
Vendee and threatened to crush it by a simultaneous assault. For a time, 
they were successful, having defeated the Royalists in several small en- 
gagements and laid waste with fire and sword the districts they traversed. 
At length, however, Kleber encountered Charette and Bonchamps near 
Torfou, where afler a well contested action he was defeated, and but for 
the devotion of Colonel Chouardin and his regiment, who maintained the 
bridge of Boussay and suffered themselves to be wholly destroyed in its 
defence, his army would have been annihilated. The Royalists followed 
this up by an attack on General Beysser, at Montaigut, on General Mu- 
kiorski, at St. Fulgent, and on the retreating columns of Kleber, in every 
one of which battles they defeated the invaders with the loss of prisoners, 
baggage, ammunition, and artillery. They were equally successful in 



42 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. VI. 

other quarters, and the Republican forces quitted the province within a 
fortnight from the time they entered it. Thus, by a series of the most 
brilliant combinations, seconded by the heroic exertions of the peasants, 
an invasion of one hundred thousand regular troops and a larger number 
of undisciplined levies, was defeated, and losses inflicted on the invaders 
far exceeding the entire loss that they had sustained from the allies in a 
whole year's campaign. 

But valor cannot contend always against innumerable odds : and the 
unfortunate Vendeans were opposed by the resources of a whole nation. 
The Convention, now fully aware of the danger of this protracted war, 
once more resolved to terminate it at a blow. The Republican armies 
again entered the devoted territory in great force ; retook the towns in 
their march ; devastated the land ; and in two successive battles defeated 
the Vendeans, who, in addition to their other losses, were deprived of the 
services of three of their principal leaders — Lescure, d'Elbee and Bon- 
champs, being mortally wounded. In every quarter, the march of the 
Republicans was disgraced by atrocious cruelty : every town and village 
burned to the ground, and the inhabitants, without any distinction of sex 
or age, put to the sword. The deplorable condition of the province, at 
this time, was thus represented to the Convention by Bourbotte and Tur- 
reau : " We may say with truth that La Vendee no longer exists. A 
profound solitude reigns in the country recently occupied by the rebels : 
you may travel far in those districts Avithout meeting a dwelling or a 
living creature ; for, with the exception of Cholet, St. Florent, and some 
little towns, where the number of Patriots greatly exceeds that of the 
Royalists, we have left behind us nothing but ashes and piles of dead." 

Yet, fortune had not wholly abandoned the Vendeans : for, on the 23rd 
of October, their retreating forces encountered a large body of Republican 
veterans under general Lechelle, and, after a desperate action, totally 
overthrew them, destroying no less than twelve thousand of their ti'oops 
and capturing nineteen pieces of cannon. General Lechelle was so 
overwhelmed by this disaster, that he resigned his command in despair 
and retired to Tours, where he soon after died from anxiety and chagrin. 

This astonishing victory was gained on the very day that Bourbotte 
and Turreau had triumphantly announced to the Convention in Paris 
that La Vendee no longer existed : it may be imagined with what con- 
sternation the intelligence a few days afterward reached them, that the 
Republican army was destroyed and nothing remained to prevent the 
advance of the Royalists upon the capital. 

After resting a few weeks to recruit their numbers and repair their 
various losses, the Royalists, November 14th, advanced upon Granville ; 
here they met with a repulse and lost eighteen hundred men. On their 
retreat, they took the road of Pontorson, where they arrived on the 19tb 
of November, and found eighteen thousand Republicans drawn up to in- 
tercept them ; but the Vendeans drove them through the streets at the 
point of the bayonet, and captured their baggage and artillery. The 
Republicans now retreated to Dol, where their numbers were raised by 
reenforcement to thirty-five thousand men. The Royalists pursued and 
attacked them in the streets at midnight. A horrible melee ensued, in 
which the Vendean women and children — who, driven from their homes 
by the Republicans, in October, had been since forced to follow the for- 
tunes of the army — were trampled and destroyed by thousands. 



1794.1 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 43 

The victory, however, was with the Royalists, and the Republicans 
retreated to Antrain, where they again endeavored to make head against 
their conquerors. But the Royalists followed up their success, entered 
the town pell-mell with the fugitives, and made prisoners of the whole 
army. There was now great danger that an indiscriminate massacre 
would ensue, for the Royalist troops were wrought up by the precedent 
cruelties of the Republicans to the highest pitch of exasperation. But in 
this, as in all cases when the Royalists were victorious, humanity pre- 
vailed over retributive vengeance : the prisoners and the wounded were 
treated with the same care as their own soldiers, and sent home without 
exchange or condition. 

Yet these victories, brilliant as they were in a military point of view, 
were of no permanent advantage to the brave Royalists ; who, in a 
foreign province, accompanied by their proscribed families, and en- 
cumbered with sick and wounded men, women and children, were forced 
to continue a retreat that, after all, promised them neither safety nor 
repose. After many painful marches, in which they were harassed and 
occasionally defeated by the accumulating forces of the Republicans, and 
during which they of necessity abandoned their women, children and 
stragglers to be butchered by their pursuers, they arrived at Mons in the 
last degre^ of fatigue, depression and suffering. Here they were com- 
pelled to halt from mere inability to proceed, and they thus gave the 
Republican generals time to concert measures for their destruction. It 
was not long delayed. Marceau, Westerman and Kleber speedily as- 
sembled forty thousand men, and attacked the town with the utmost im- 
petuosity. The Royalist troops made a heroic but unavailing defence ; 
they were routed and scattered through the town, and the Republicans 
commenced an indiscriminate massacre. Ten thousand soldiers and an 
equal number of women and children perished in this horrible carnage, 
and a remnant only of the army made good its retreat to Savenay. Here 
some ten thousand men, of whom but six thousand were armed, took their 
last stand. For a long time they held the Republican columns in check, 
and when at length obliged to retire, they fell back in good order, and served 
the few pieces of artillery they had left until the last cartridge was dis- 
charged : even then, the rear-guard continued to fight with their swords 
and bayonets till they all sunk under the fire of the Republicans. Of 
eighty thousand souls, who, but six weeks before, had crossed the Loire, 
scarcely three thousand, in straggling parties, ever returned to La Vendee. 

With these disasters, the Vendean war ceased for a time ; and it would 
never have revived, had the Republicans made a humane use of their 
bloody victory. But the darkest period of the ti'agedy was approaching, 
and in the rear of the armies came those fiends in human form who 
exceeded the crimes even of Marat and Robespierre, and whose deeds 
have left a darker stain on the annals of France than the massacreof St. 
Bartholomew, or all the preceding horrors of the Revolution. Their 
atrocities took away hope from the vanquished ; and, in revenge and 
despair, the Chouan bands sprung up, who, under Charette, Sfofflet and 
Tinteniac, long maintained the Royal cause in the Western Provinces. 

Thurreau was the first who commenced against the Vendeans a sys- 
tematic war of extermination. He formed twelve corps, aptly denomi- 
nated infernal columns, whose orders were to traverse the country in 
very direction, isolate it from all communication with the rest of the 



44 HISTORY OF EUROPE, [Chap. VH. 

world, carry off or destroy all the grain and cattle, murder all the inhab- 
itants and burn all the houses. These orders were but too faithfully 
executed, though at intervals Charette descended from his fastnesses and 
took a bloody revenge on detached parties of the invaders. 

While Thurreau was pursuing this system of extermination in La 
Vendee, the scaffold was erected at Nantes, and those infernal executions 
commenced, which fill the blackest page in the history of the world. A 
Revolutionary Tribunal was established there, of which Carrier was the 
presiding demon — Carrier, known in all nations as the inventor of that 
last of barbarous atrocities, the Repuhlican Marriage, in which two per- 
sons of different sexes, generally an old man and an old woman, or a 
young man and a young woman, bereft of every kind of clothing, were 
bound together before the multitude, exposed in a boat in that situation 
for half an hour or more, and then thrown into the river. It was ascer- 
tained by authentic documents that, in addition to the adults, six hundred 
children perished in this horrible manner: and such was the quantity of 
corpses accumulated in the Loire, that the water became infected, and 
a public ordinance was issued forbidding its use. For a long time after- 
ward, mariners, when heaving their anchors in that vicinity, frequently 
brought up the ghastly remains of the murdered victims. 



CHAPTER VIL 

CAMPAIGN OF 1793. 

The year 1793, was distinguished by the novel measure of treaties of 
alliance between England, Russia, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Naples, 
Sardinia and Portugal — all Europe, in short, against Republican France ; 
and thus did the regicides of that country, as the first fruit of their 
murderous triumph, find themselves excluded from the pale of civilized 
nations. The force of the allies was three hundred and sixty-four thou- 
sand men acting on the whole circumference of France, from Calais to 
Bayonne ; and that of the Republicans amounted to two hundred and 
twenty thousand men, inferior troops for the most part, but possessing the 
advantage of unity of language, government and public feeling, and adding 
to these the important fact of acting in an interior and concentric circle, 
which enables one corps rapidly to communicate with and support an- 
other — an advantage of which the allies, by being spread over a much 
larger circumference, were deprived. But both the contending parties 
labored under worse disavantages than these. On the part of the allies, 
there was that want of union so common and so fatal to a combination of 
national interests. Russia, especially, one of the most important powers 
of the league, was at that time more anxious to complete the subjugation 
of despoiled Poland than to resist the arms of Revolutionary France, and 
the views of Prussia, too, were partly turned in the same direction, while 
between Prussia and Austria jealousies existed as to their relative posi- 
tion in the allied army. On this point, Prussia went so far as to de 
mand a division of the forces of the inferior powers of the league, a p'*" 



1793.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 45 

of whom should be joined to an independent Prussian, and another part 
to an independent Austrian army. Thus, entire unity of purpose, the 
quality most essential to victory, was wanting in the allied armies from 
the outset, and another serious evil, incidental to this, soon developed 
itself; namely, the want of union between the superior, led to a want of 
zeal in the inferior, powers. In addition to all this, Prince Cobourg, a 
man every way ill qualified for such a command, was appointed general- 
issimo of the allied forces. 

On the other hand, the French armies had great difficulties of their 
own to contend with. The troops, during the winter, following the ex- 
ample of the factious inhabitants at Paris, resisted all subordination, 
lost tlieir discipline, and were, at the opening of the campaign, miserably 
deficient in every species of equipment. 

To support the prodigious expense of a war on all their frontiers, 
would greatly have exceeded the ordinary and legitimate resources of 
the French government : but, contrary alike to precedent and anticipa- 
tion, they derived, frorn the miseries and convulsions of the Revolution, 
the means of creating new resources. The period had arrived in France, 
when all calculation in matter of finance was to cease ; for the inex- 
haustible mine of assignats, possessing a forced circulation and issued on 
the credit of the national domains, necessarily proved sufficient for every 
exigency. 

In February of this year, the French, under Miranda, opened the 
campaign by laying siege to Maestricht, but with forces inadequate to so 
great an undertaking. The first movement of the Austrians was to raise 
the siege with an army of fifty-two thousand men under Prince Cobourg, 
with whom was the young Archduke Charles, at the head of the grena- 
diers. On the 1st and 2nd of March, the Austrians along the whole line 
attacked the French cantonments, and, after an inconsiderable resistance, 
succeeded in driving them back and in many points throwing them into 
utter confusion. The French troops were immediately seized with the 
discouragement so common at this period, whenever they experienced 
a considerable reverse. Whole battalions fled in disorder into France, 
officers quitted their troops, soldiers disbanded from their officers ; the 
siege of Maestricht was raised, the heavy artillery dispatched in haste 
toward Brussels, and the army driven beyond the Mouse with a loss of 
seven thousand men in killed, wounded and prisoners. On the 4th of 
March, the Republicans were again routed near Liege, and a large part 
of the heavy artillery was there abandoned. A few days after, Tongres 
was carried by the Archduke Charles at the head of twelve thousand 
men, and the whole army fell back upon Tirlemont, and thence to Lou- 
vain, where Dumourier arrived from the Dutch frontier and resumed the 
command. The Austrians then desisted from the pursuit, satisfied with 
their success, and not deeming themselves sufficiently strong to force the 
united corps of the French army in that city. 

Dumourier found the army, consisting now of forty-five thousand men, 
in the utmost disorganization, but he immediately adopted measures of 
reform ; and, to restore the confidence of the soldiers, resolved to com- 
mence offensive operations. He was not long in finding an opportunity. 
He fell in with a detachment of Austrians near Tirlemont, and defeated 
them with a loss of twelve hundred men, after which he prepared to risk 
a general action. 



46 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. VII. 

The Austrians, thirty-nine thousand strong, including nine thousand 
cavalry, determined not to decline the combat, and concentrated their 
forces along a position about two leagues in length, near the village of 
Nerwinde. The battle took place on the 18th of March, and was con- 
tested with much spirit and varied success ; but the Austrians eventually 
remained masters of the field, having sustained a loss of two thousand 
men, and inflicted one of two thousand five hundred killed and wounded, 
besides fifteen hundred prisoners. This defeat, not very serious in itself, 
proved disastrous to the French army, inasmuch as it destroyed their 
reviving spirits, induced large bodies of them to disband, and forced 
Dumourier to retreat upon Brussels, Antwerp and Mechlin. 

Soon after, conferences were opened between Dumourier and the Aus- 
trian generals, in virtue of which it was agreed that the French should 
retire behind Brussels without being molested in their retreat. The 
French army, accordingly, evacuated Brussels and Mechlin and retired 
toward the French frontier. But it soon appeared that these movements 
were made in reference to something more tli^ military objects ; for 
Dumourier was now really anxious, as on a former occasion he pre- 
tended to be, to restore a constitutional monarchy ; and he proposed to 
march to Paris in concert with the allies, to accomplish this project. 
Having thus actually embarked in this perilous undertaking, Dumou- 
rier's first care was to secure the fortresses on which the success of his 
enterprise depended. But here he made shipwreck. The garrisons of 
Conde and Valenciennes refused to abandon the Republic, and Dumou- 
rier, finding his plans discovered at Paris, and himself likely to be 
betrayed, was forced to take refuge in the Austrian lines. 

A congress of ministers of the allied powers soon after asssmbled 
at Antwerp, attended by Metternich and Stahrenberg on the part of 
Austria, Lord Auckland on the part of England, and Count Keller on 
the part of Russia. Such was the confidence inspired by recent events, 
that these ministers imagined the last days of the Convention were at 
hand ; and, in truth, so they would have been, had the ministers intro- 
duced a little more vigor, unanimity and wisdom into their military 
operations. Unfortunately, they came to the resolution of changing the 
object of the war, and openly announced the necessity of providing in- 
demnities and securities for the allied powers ; in other words, partitioning 
the frontier territories of France among the invading States : and when 
Valenciennes and Conde were taken, the standard, not of Louis XVIL, 
but of Austria, was hoisted on their walls. This injudicious measui'e 
converted the war from one of liberation to one of aggrandizement, and 
gave the Jacobins of Paris too good reason to assert that the dismember- 
ment of their country was at hand, and that all patriots, whether Repub- 
licans or Royalists, must join against the common enemy. 

The Convention took vigorous measures to promulgate this popular 
view of the contest and to sustain it with a requisite force. A camp of 
forty thousand men was ordered to form a reserve for the army, a levy of 
three hundred thousand men, already decreed, was hastened forward, and 
sixty representatives of the Convention were appointed to serve as vice- 
roys over the generals in all the armies. No less than twelve of these 
viceroys v/ere directed to proceed to the army of the North. No limit 
was fixed to their authority; but, armed wi'h the despotic power of the 
Convention, and supported by a Republican and mutinous soldiery, they 



1793.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 47 

with equal facility, placed the generals on a triumphal car or sent them 
to the scaffold. 

Meantime, fortune was not more propitious to the French arms on the 
eastern than on the northern frontier. Their forces in that quarter, at 
the opening of the campaign, were greatly outnumbered by the allies : 
the entire Prussian and Austrian forces amounting to ninety-five thousand 
men, while the French, under Custine, had not over forty-five thousand 
in the field, and forty thousand in the garrisons of the Upper Rhine. The 
campaign was opened on the 24th of March, by a movement of the King 
of Prussia across the Rhine at Rheinfels, where he encountered and de- 
feated Custine, who, after several days of retreat and partial actions, was 
compelled to fall back to the lines of Weissenberg, leaving Mayence to its 
own resources. The allies made immediate preparations for the siege of 
this important fortress, and, after an investment of nearly four months, the 
garrison capitulated on the 22nd of July. 

On the 1st of May, the Republicans resumed the offensive on the 
Flemish frontier by an attack, under General Dampierre, on the allied 
position ; but they were repulsed, with a loss of two thousand men and a 
large quantity of artillery. On the 8th, the French attacked the allies 
along their whole line, but they were everywhere unsuccessful, except 
at the wood of Vicogne, where they forced the Prussians to retreat until the 
arrival of the English guards changed the aspect of the day. The latter 
drove back the French with a loss of four thousand men and reestablished 
the Prussians in their position. This action took place within a few miles 
of Waterloo, and it was the first time that the English and French soldiers 
came into collision during the war. These disasters checked the spirit 
of the Republicans and induced them to relinquish offensive operations. 
They intrenched themselves at Famars, in a position to cover the city of 
Valenciennes. But the allies were now in a condition to disturb them, 
and advanced, eighty thousand strong, under the Duke of York, Ferrari, 
Abercomby and Walmoden. Their attacks prevailed at all points ; and 
the French, dui'ing the night, fell back to the "Camp of Cfesar," leaving 
Valenciennes to its fate. This important city and Conde were invested 
by the allies, and both fell successively into their hands within a few 
weeks. The capitulation of these two fortresses brought to light, as has 
already been related, the fatal change in the object and policy of the 
war, which had been agreed on in the Congress of Antwerp : and its effect 
was doubly injurious, not only by rousing the patriotism of the French, 
but by cooling the ardor of the allies ; for, from the moment tliat the 
Emperor of Austria took possession of Valenciennes and Conde in his own 
name, the several allied parties became jealous of him and of each other. 
They did not, however, wholly relax in their efforts to continue the war, 
but, following up the retreat of the French, they attacked them in the 
Camp of Caesar, on the 8th of August, and routed them with so much ease 
that the affair could hardly be called a battle. 

The allies were now in great force within one hundred and sixty miles 
of Paris, and there was no serious obstacle between them and that metro- 
polis. They might have reached its gates within fifteen days ; and, had 
they moved forward with' energy before the French recovered from their 
consternation, the war would have been terminated at a blow. But the 
unhappy dissensions which now prevailed in the allied counsels prevented 
this bold and decisive measure, and France gained time to organize an 
effectual resistance. 



48 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. VII. 

Under the despotic control of the Convention, the whole kingdom was 
suddenly converted into an immense workshop, resounding with the note 
of military preparation. Manufactories of stores and arms were estab- 
lished, horses and provisions seized, and no less than twelve hundred thou- 
sand men forced into the ranks of the army. In this last measure, fear 
was the efficient engine of success : the recruits had to choose between the 
army and the prisons of the Revolution — and the bayonets of the allies 
appeal id to them much less formidable than the guillotine of the Conven- 
tion. Of the finances of the country, it is sufficient to say, as has already 
been said, the debts and expenses of the government were paid in paper 
money, issued without cost and circulated under the mandate of the Revo- 
lutionary Tribunal. 

At the head of the military department was Carnot, a man whose ex- 
traordinary talents and unbending character contributed greatly to the 
success of the revolutionary wars. It was his misfortune to be associated 
with Robespierre in the Committee of Public Safety, and his name conse- 
quently stands affixed to many of the worst acts of that sanguinary tribu- 
nal : but he has asserted, and his cliaracter entitles the allegation to atten- 
tion, that in the pressure of business he signed those documents without 
knowing what they contained, and that he saved more lives by his entreat- 
ies than his colleagues destroyed by their severity. He was the origin- 
ator of that great improvement in the military art which Dumourier first 
practiced, and Napoleon brought to perfection : the rapid concentration^ 
namely, of superior force on a given point, by which movement the ene- 
my's line is broken, flanked and defeated. 

The allies, having declined to strike a decisive blow while their antag- 
onists were dispersed in small bodies over the country, unwisely exposed 
themselves to a similar blow from the Republicans, by dividing their own 
forces and pursuing separate objects. The English laid siege to Dunkirk, 
the Austrians to Quesnoy, and the remainder of the allied army was 
broken into detachments to preserve the communications. The Austrian 
expedition was successful, Quesnoy having capitulated fifteen days after the 
trenches were opened, and its garrison of four thousand men surrendered 
as prisoners of war ; while two columns of ten thousand men each, sent 
to raise the siege, were defeated with great loss. But a different fate 
awaited the British besieging army. Their approaches were needlessly 
delayed and unskilfully conducted, and after having been set down before 
Dunkirk for nearly three weeks, they had made no progress of importance. 
At the end of that time, General Houchard arrived with fifty thousand 
French troops to relieve the city. The situation of the English and 
of the detachments of allies who covered their position, was such as to 
give a vigorous attack every chance of success : Freytag with eighteen 
thousand Austrians being posted at a considerable distance in the rear, and 
the Dutch, under the Prince of Orange, were at Menin, three days' march 
from the English lines. Had Houchard implicitly obeyed his instructions 
from the Convention, he must have destroyed each of the three armies in 
detail. As it resulted, however, he defeated only the Austrian corps, who 
sustained a loss of fifteen hundred men ; on which the Duke of York, 
finding his position untenable, withdrew in the night, leaving behind him 
fifty-two pieces of heavy artillery and a large quantity of ammunition and 
baggage. Houchard, satisfied with having raised the siege, did not follow 
up his advantage with spirit ; but contented himself with an attack on the 



1793.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 49 

Dutch at Melin, whom he defeated. But he was in turn assailed by Gen- 
eral Beaulieu at Courtray, totally routed and driven behind the Lys. Nor 
did the disaster to the French end there : for a panic ensued on this first 
reverse which communicated itself to all the Republican troops in that quar- 
ter, who thereupon tumultuously fled for refuge under the cannon of Lisle. 
This defeat proved fatal to Houchard. He v/as summoned to Paris, tried 
before the Revolutionary Tribunal, condemned and executed — a proceed- 
ing interesting chiefly from the evidence it affords, of the clear perception 
which those at the head of the government had obtained of the true prin- 
ciples of the military art. " The Committee," said Barere to Houchard, 
" instructed you to accumulate your troops in large masses on particular 
points and defeat the enemy in detail : you disregarded their orders, and 
have been yourself defeated." 

The allies next laid siege to Maubeuge, the possession of which now 
became an object of capital importance, and their measures were taken 
on a scale proportiofiate to the magnitude of the undertaking. 

Under all these discouraging circumstances, the Committee of Public 
Safeiy did not despair. They gave the command of the army of the north 
to Jourdan, a young officer, hitherto untried, but who, placed between vic- 
tory and the scaffold, had sufficient confidence in his own talents to accept 
the perilous alternative. He promptly approached the Austrian position, 
and after some skirmishing a general action took place on the 1.5th of 
October, in which the Republicans were worsted with a loss of twelve 
hundred men. Instructed by his failure that a change in his method of 
attack was indispensable, Jourdan, in the night accumulated his forces 
against the village of Wattignies, the key of the Austrian position, and 
on the morning of the 16th assailed it with three columns supported by a 
concentric fire of artillery. The village was speedily carried and Cobourg 
retreated with a loss of six thousand men. The siege having been thus 
raised, Jourdan established his winter-quarters at Guice, where a vast 
intrenched camp was formed for the protection and discipline of the 
revolutionary recruits, who were daily arriving in large masses from 
the interior. 

After the capture of Mayence, the allies on the Rhine relapsed into in- 
activity, although their army in that quarter amounted to over one hundred 
thousand men in excellent condition. The Convention, however, wearied 
with the torpor of their enemies, ordered Moreau, who was in command of 
the French on the Moselle, to attack the Prussian corps at Permasin. 
The Republicans advanced with great intrepidity to the Prussian redoubts, 
when they were arrested in front by a terrible fire of grape, and their 
flank was at the same time assailed by the Duke of Brunswick : they im- 
mediately gave way and precipitated themselves into the neighboring ra- 
vines, leaving behind them four thousand men and twenty-two pieces of 
cannon, A few days after this affair, the King of Prussia repaired to Po- 
land, to pursue in concert with Russia his plans of aggrandizement at the 
expense of that unhappy country, leaving the Duke of Brunswick in com- 
mand of the army. The French retired to the ancient and celebrated 
lines of Weissenberg, constructed in former times for the protection of the 
Rhenish frontier from German invasion : they stretched from the town of 
LaiHerburg on the Rhine, through the village of Weissenberg to the Vos- 
ges mountains, and closed all access from that side into Alsace. A simul- 
taneous assault was made by the Prussians on the left of this position; 



50 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. VII. 

by the Austrians, under Prince Waldeck, on the right; and by Wurmser, 
with the main body of Austrians, on the centre. These attacks prevailed 
at all points, and the French retreated in confusion ; but the pursuit of the 
allies was so tardy that only one thousand prisoners fell into their hands. 
Still, the victory was impoi'tant, as it again opened a free road to the inva- 
ders. Wurmser proceeded to Strasburg, which the constituted authorities 
of that town offered to surrender to the Austrians in the name of Louis 
XVII. : but Wurmser, not being empowered to make conditional conquests, 
declined their proposal ; and, being unable to reduce the place by force, 
witlidrew to Fort Vauban, which he took with its garrison of three 
thousand men, and afterward blockaded Landau. The inhabitants of 
Strasburg, thus abandoned to their fate, experienced the full weight of 
Republican vengeance in return for their proposals to Wurmser. Seventy 
persons of the most distinguished families were put to death, and terror 
and confiscation reinstated the sway of the Convention over the unhappy 
province. 

The secession of Prussia from the confederation now became more and 
more manifest. On his return to Berlin, Frederic William was assailed 
by so many representations from his ministers as to the deplorable state 
of the finances, and the exhaustion of the national strength in a contest 
foreign to the real interests of the kingdom, and that, too, at a time when 
the affairs of Poland required all his resources and attention, that he at 
first adopted the resolution to recall all his troops from the Rhine. The 
cabinet of Vienna made the strongest remonstrances against this defec- 
tion, in which they were so well seconded by the cabinets of London and 
St. Petersburg, that the resolution was rescinded. Nevertheless, orders 
were given to the Duke of Brunswick to temporize as much as possible, 
and engage the troops in no serious enterprise or any conquest which 
might turn to the advantage of the Austrians : the effect of which soon 
appeared, in the removal of the Prussian mortars and cannons from the 
lines before Landau. The French, meanwhile, made preparations to 
relieve that place from its besiegers. Thirty thousand men from the 
armies of the Moselle and the Rhine were directed thither under Pichegru, 
and these were supported by thirty-five thousand under General Hoche, 
who advanced from the side of La Sarre. After some preparatory move- 
ments and partial actions, the Republicans, on the 26th of December, 
attacked the covering army of the Duke of Brunswick. The allies, com- 
batting with a divided purpose, were easily driven from their position, 
raised the blockade of Landau, and crossed to the right bank of the Rhine 
at Philipsberg. Fort Vauban was evacuated, Spire and Worms were 
reconquered by the French, who advanced to the gates of Manheim, and 
Germany, so recently victorious, was now threatened on its own fron- 
tier. 

The campaign on the Spanish frontier, during this year, was charac- 
terized by some events of military importance. The Spanish government 
made vigorous efforts to increase their forces in February, and the zeal 
and patriotism of the inhabitants soon enabled them to put on foot two con- 
siderable armies; one of thirty thousand, destined to invade Roussillon, and 
the other of twenty-five thousand, to advance on the side of Bayonne, by the 
Bidossoa. The latter army commenced its offensive operations on the Mth 
of April, by a partial attack on the French camp, which was followed 
by a more serious action, on the 1st of May, when the French were 



1793.J HISTORYOFEUROPE. 51 

forced back from one of their positions, with a loss of fifteen pieces of 
cannon ; and on the 6th of June, they were driven from a second intrench- 
ment, and abandoned all their artillery and ammunition. They, however, 
were not yet discouraged : but, after reorganizing their forces, themselves 
assumed the offensive, and, on the 29th of August, made a spirited attack 
on the Spanish posts fortified within the territory of France : but they were 
repulsed with such loss that they could not renew the strife during the 
remainder of the campaign. 

The success of tlie army on the eastern side of the frontier was more 
varied. The Spaniards, under Don Ricardos, invadedTloussillon in the 
middle of April, and, on the 21st, they made a general attack on the 
French camp, which ended in the defeat of the Republicans. Soon after, 
the forts of Bellegrade and Villa Franca were taken ; and Ricardos, 
pursuing his advantage, attacked a large body of French at Millas, who 
were totally defeated and lost fifteen pieces of cannon. But the French, 
by great exertions, assembled a reenforcement of fresh troops in this 
quarter, and fell upon a corps of six thousand Spaniards under Don Juan 
Comten. The Spaniards made a brave defence, but they were over- 
powered by numbers, and, at length, lost one thousand men killed, fifteen 
hundred prisoners, and all their artillery and camp equipage. Elated by 
this victory, the French, under the command of Dagobert, resolved to at- 
tack the entire Spanish army at Truellas. This battle took place on the 
22nd of September, and it ended in the total defeat of the French, with a 
loss of four thousand men and ten pieces of artillery. After this disaster, 
Dagobert was displaced, and Davoust, with fifteen thousand fresh troops, 
appointed to the command. Several trifling actions ensued, without any 
decisive advantage on either side, until the 7th of December, when Ri- 
cardos attacked the French lines and totally defeated the Republican 
army, capturing forty-six pieces of cannon and twenty-five hundred pris- 
oners. He followed up this victory with great promptness, attacked and 
took the town of Port Vendre with all its artillery, and soon after com- 
pelled Coillure to surrender, with more than eighty pieces of cannon ; 
while the Marquis Amarillas overthrew the right of the French forces, 
and so terrified those inexperienced troops by his assault, that whole bat- 
talions disbanded themselves, and fled in confusion under the guns of 
Perpignan. 

The campaign in the districts of the maritime Alps was feebly con- 
ducted on both sides ; it consisted of a few trifling actions, and resulted in 
no event of importance. But while the operations of the allies, in this 
quarter, were thus inefficient, the efforts of the French to shake off" the 
yoke of the Convention, were of a more decided character. Marseilles, 
Toulon and Lyons, openly espoused the Girondist cause ; and, in the 
month of July, two of the Jacobin leaders were put to death. From that 
moment, the inhabitants of these towns, knowing that they were doomed 
to Jacobin vengeance, began to cast cannon, raise intrenchments, and 
make every preparation tor a vigorous defence. Marseilles was the first 
to suffer for this imprudence. The troops of the Convention reached it 
before the inhabitants were fully prepared for resistance, defeated the 
insurrection, and established the guillotine in bloody sovereignty. The 
next attack of the Jacobins was at Lyons, where the revolt was better 
organized and the insurrectionists better prepared for defence. During 
the whole of August and part of September, the besiegers made but little 



52 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. VII. 

progress, and the Convention, alarmed at the protracted resistance of the 
town, directed immediate preparations on a larger scale for its reduction. 
A hundred pieces of cannon, drawn from the arsenals of Besancon and 
Grenoble, were mounted on tlie besieging batteries ; veteran troojjs were 
dispatched thither from the frontiers of Piedmont, and on the 24th of Sep- 
tember a terrible bombardment and cannonade with red hot shot was 
commenced, which continued without intermission for a whole week. The 
result of this attack was terrible to the inhabitants of the city: night and 
day the flaming tempest fell on them, burning their houses, destroying their 
magazines, and Scattering death among them in a tiiousand forms. Still, 
their courage faltered not, nor did the garrison slacken in their defence. 
Soon, famine was added to their .sulfe rings ; and, in the mean time, the 
Convention, exasperated at their obstinacy, displaced Kellerman, who 
had hitherto conducted the siege, increased the attacking ai'my to si.xty 
thousand, and placing General Coppet at their head, ordered him to re- 
duce Lyons instantly by fire and sword. . These measures finally pre- 
vailed. The garrison and citizens had maintained their position, until 
their provisions of every sort were entirely exhausted and a large portion 
of tlie town was laid in ashes by the bombs and hot shot of the enemy. 
Surrender, therefore, became inevitable ; but even in this extremity, the 
brave Precy, who had so nobly directed the defence, refused to submit. 
He resolved to force his way at the head of a chosen band, through the 
enemy's lines, and seek in foreign climes that fi'eedom that had departed 
from France. On the night of the 9th of October, the heroic column, 
consisting of two thousand men, with their wives and children, set forth 
on this perilous march. As they proceeded, they found themselves 
enveloped on every side by cavalry, infantry and artillery, and they were 
indiscriminately massacred ; of the whole number scarcely fifty forced 
their way with Precy into the Swiss territories. 

On the following day, the Republicans took possession of the city, and 
Couthon, entei'ing at the head of the authorities of the Convention, rein- 
stated the Jacobin municipality in full force, and commissioned them to 
seek out and denounce "the guilty." He wrote to Paris that the inhabit- 
ants consisted of three classes : first, the guilty rich ; second, the selfish 
rich ; third, the ignorant workmen, incapable of any wickedness. " The 
first, " he said, " should be guillotined and their houses destroyed ; the 
fortunes of the second should be confiscated ; the third should be removed, 
and their places supplied by a Republican colony." These directions 
were carried out with a degree of atrocity unsurpassed by any of the 
horrors of that horrible period. More than six thousand persons, of both 
sexes and all ages, perished by the hands of the executioners ; twelve 
thousand were driven into exile ; and the number of palaces and liouses 
pulled down and demolished by order of the municipality may bee.stima- 
ttd from the fact, that their destruction occupied six months of organized 
labor, and was effected at an expense to the government of more than 
seventeen millions of francs. 

Toulon was the next object of Republican revenge. That rising sea- 
port possessed a population of twenty-five thousand souls, and was warmly 
opposed to the Revolution from its connnencement. In their present 
emergency, the inhabitants saw no alternative but to open their harbor to 
the English fleet which was cruising in the vicinity, and proclaim Louis 
XVIL king. This was done accordingly, and the English squadron 



1793.1 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 63 

entered the harbor. Soon after, a Spanish fleet arrived bringing a consid- 
erable body of land-troops, and the allied forces, thirteen thousand strong, 
took possession of all the forts in the city. A large portion of the French 
fleet lay at this time in the harbor, and their sailors, with the exception 
of the crews of seven ships of the line who proved refractory, joined the 
inhabitants in their defence. 

On the land side, Toulon is backed by a ridge of lofty hills, on which 
«trong fortifications had long been erected and the artillery of which com- 
manded the greater part of the city and harbor. The mountain of Faron 
and the Hauteur de Grasse are the principal points of this rocky range, 
and on their occupation depends, in a great measure, the maintenance of 
the place. They were now taken possession of by the allied troops. 
Every exertion was made by the allies and inhabitants to strengthen the 
defences of the town itself, and particularly to render impregnable the 
Fort Eguillette, placed at the extremity of the promontory which shuts in 
the lesser harbor, and was called by the English, Little Gibraltar : yet 
the regular force was too small and composed of too many heterogeneous 
materials, to warrant any well-grounded hope of a permanent resistance. 

The Republican forces soon arrived, to the number of forty thousand 
men ; many of them veterans, all well disciplined, and provided with every- 
thing necessary for prosecuting the siege. Dugommier, by order of the 
Convention, took command of the Republican army, and Lord Mulgrave 
assumed the direction of the garrison of Toulon. 

The first attack of the Republicans was on the hill forts that com- 
manded the harbor, disguised by a false attack against Cape Brun. The 
breaching batteries were placed in charge of a young officer of artillery, 
then chief of battalion, who was destined to outstrip all his predecessors in 
European history — Napoleon Bonaparte. Under his superintendence, 
the works of the forts soon began to be seriously damaged ; and to inter- 
rupt his fire, a sally from the garrison was resolved on. This attempt 
was made on the 30th of November, by three thousand men, who moved 
against the heights of Arennes, whence this annoyance proceeded ; while 
another column of the allies, of nearly the same strength, attacked the 
batteries at the gorge of Ollioulles. Both attacks were at first successful, 
Ollioulles was carried and the guns on the point of being taken, when 
Dugommier rallied his troops, led them back, and repulsed the assailants. 
The sally on the side of Arennes was equally fortunate ; all the guns of 
the battery were carried and spiked ; but the impetuosity of the allies 
having led them too far in pursuit of the enemy, they were in turn met by 
fresh troops headed by Napoleon, and driven back to the city with con- 
siderable loss. The whole force of the Republicans was next directed 
against the English redoubt, styled Little Gibraltar. After that fort had 
been battered at intervals for several days, the fire of the besiegers was 
maintained through the whole of the 16th of December, and at two o'clock 
on the morning of the 17th, Dugommier led his troops to the assault. They 
were received with a tremendous fire of grape and musketry, which soon 
filled the ditches with dead and wounded ; the column was driven back, 
and Dugommier despaired of success; but fresh troops continually ad- 
vanced and at length overpowered the Spanish soldiers, to whom a part 
of the line was intrusted, and gained the flank of the British detachment, 
nearly three hundred of whom fell while defending their part of the 
intrenchments. The possession of this fort, by the enemy, rendered the 



54 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. VII. 

farther maintenance of the exterior defences impracticable ; and in the 
night, the whole of the allied troops were withdrawn from the promontory 
to the city. The attack on this fort was planned and urged by Napoleon, 
who well knew that it commanded the inner harbor, and that its possession 
by the besiegers would render the situation of tlie fleet extremely perilous, 
and in all probability lead to the evacuation of the town. 

While this important success was gained on the side of Fort Eguillette, 
the Republicans were not less fortunate on the other extremity of the line. 
A little before daybreak, and shortly after the firing had ceased on the 
promontory, a general attack was made on the whole range of posts which 
crowned the mountain of Faron. On the eastern side of the range, the 
Republicans were repulsed ; but on the north, where the mountain is 
nearly eighteen hundred feet in height, steep, rocky, and supposed to be 
inaccessible, they made good their ascent ; so that when the allies were 
congratulating themselves on the defeat of what they deemed the main 
attack, they beheld the heights above them crowded with glittering bat- 
talions, and the tricolor-flag waving from the loftiest summit of the 
mountain. This conquest, projected by Napoleon, was decisive of the 
fate of Toulon : for though the town was as yet uninjured, the harbor 
was no longer tenable. The evacuation was therefore resolved on, and 
information conveyed to the principal inhabitants, that the means of re- 
treat would be afforded them on board the British squadron ; and in the 
mean time, the ships were moved to the outer-roads, beyond the reach of 
the enemy's fire. 

The distress of the inhabitants, who were now forced to choose between 
exile and the guillotine, was extreme: nor can any words do justice to 
the scene that ensued, when the last columns of the allied troops com- 
menced their embarkation. Cries, screams and lamentations were heard 
in every quarter ; the sad remnant of those who had favored the Royal 
cause and had not yet secured the means of escape, came flying to the 
beach, and with tears and prayers invoked the aid of their British friends. 
Mothers, clasping their babes to their bosoms, helpless children and 
decrepit old men, might be seen stretching their hands toward the harbor, 
shuddering at every sound behind them, and even rushing into the waves 
to escape the less merciful death that awaited them from their country- 
men. Sir Sidney Smith, with a degree of humanity worthy of his high 
character, suspended his retreat until not one individual who claimed his 
assistance, remained on the strand: the tolal number borne away was 
fourteen thousand, eight hundred and seventy-seven. 

Before leaving the coast, the allies effected in part the destruction of 
the French fleet. Fifteen ships of the line, eight frigates and eleven cor- 
vettes were burned, three ships of the line and three frigates were brought 
away uninjured and taken into the English service, and twelve ships of 
the line and eleven frigates, owing to the lukewarmncss or timidity of the 
Spanish officers, escaped destruction, and remained in the hands of the 
Republicans. 

The storm which now burst on the heads of the remaining inhabitants 
of Toulon, was a legitimate counterpart of what was endured at Lyons. 
Several thousand citizens, men, women and cbildren, perished witJiin a 
few weeks by the sword or the guillotine, and twelve thousand laborers 
Were hired from the surrounding departments to demolish the buildings 
of the city. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1794- 

While the career of the French armies was thus marked by alterna- 
tions of victory and defeat, a different fortune awaited her naval arma- 
ments. Power at sea, unlike conquest on land, cannot spring from mere 
suffering, or from the energy of destitute warriors with arms in their 
hands ; nor are triumphs to be achieved on the ocean by merely forcing 
column after column of conscripts on board ships of war. 

At the commencement of the contest, the French navy consisted of 
seventy-five ships of the line and seventy frigates ; but the officers, drawn 
chiefly from the aristocratic classes, had, for the most part, emigrated on 
the breaking out of the Revolution, and those who supplied their places 
were deficient both in naval education and experience. On the other 
hand, England had one hundred and twenty-nine ships of the line and 
more than a hundred frigates ; ninety of each class were immediately put 
in commission, and seamen of the best description, to the number of eighty- 
five thousand, were drawn from the inexhaustible merchant-service. 
Unable to face the English in large squadrons, the French navy remained 
for a time in total inactivity ; but the French merchants, not having any 
pacific means of employing their capital, fitted out an immense number 
of privateers which proved extremely injurious to British commerce. 

Meanwhile, the ascendency of the navy of Great Britain produced its 
wonted effects on the colonial possessions of her enemies. Soon after the 
commencement of hostilities, Tobago was taken by a British fleet, and in 
the beginning of March, 1794, an expedition was sent against Martinique, 
which island surrendered on the 23rd of that month. Soon af\er, the prin- 
cipal forts in St. Domingo were wrested from the Republicans by the 
English forces, while the wretched planters, a prey to the commotion 
excited by Brissot and the friends of negro emancipation at the commence- 
ment of the Revolution, were totally ruined. St. Lucia and Guadaloupe 
were next subdued, and thus in little more than a month the French were 
despoiled of their West India possessions, with hardly any loss to the 
conquerors. 

In the Mediterranean, also, the power of the British navy was speedily 
felt. Corsica was selected as the point of attack. Three thousand ma- 
rines and soldiers were landed, and they nearly effected the subjuga- 
tion of the island by capturing the fortress of Bastia, which capitulated 
at the end of May : and on the 1st of August, Calvi, the only remaining 
stronghold, surrendered to the British arms. The crown of Corsica was 
then offered by Paoli and the Royalist party to the King of England, who 
accepted it. 

But a more important achievement was at hand. The French govern- 
ment, by great exertions, had equipped for service twenty-six ships of the 
line at Brest, in order to secure the arrival of a large fleet laden with 
provisions from America, and on the 20th of May, the fleet put to sea, 
under Admiral Joyeuse. On the 28th, Lord Howe hove in sight with the 
Channel-fleet of England, consisting also of six-and-twenty ships of the 



56 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. VIII. 

line. The French were immediately formed in order of battle, and a 
partial action ensued between their rear-guard and the British van, 
during which the Revolutionaire was so much damaged that she struck 
to the Audacious ; but as the victors did not take possession of her before 
nightfall, she was on the following morning carried off by the French and 
towed into Rochefort. The next day each party endeavored to gain the 
weather-gage, and, during the two following days, a thick fog concealed 
the rival fleets from each other's view. On the Jst of June, the sun 
broke forth with unusual splendor, and Lord Howe, having obtained the 
weather-gage, bore down obliquely on the enemy's line, broke it near the 
centre, and doubled, with a preponderating force, on one half of their 
squadron. The French fleet was arrayed in close order in a line extend- 
ing nearly east and west, and a heavy fire was commenced on the British 
ships as soon as they came within range. The battle then became general 
and was contested with great bravery on both sides ; but the superiority 
of the British seamen everywhere prevailed. One of the French ships 
was sunk, and ten surrendered ; but subsequently four of the prizes with 
the remainder of the fleet escaped. Six ships of the line remained in the 
hands of the British admiral, and were brought into Plymouth. The 
Republicans were in some degree consoled for this disaster, by the safe 
arrival of the fleet from America, consisting of one hundred and sixty 
vessels laden with provisions — a supply of incalculable importance to a 
population, whom the Reign of Terror and civil disunion had brought to 
the verge of famine. 

Never was a victory more seasonable than Lord Howe's to the British 
government. The war, preceded as it was by violent party divisions in 
England, had been regarded with lukewarm feelings by a large portion 
of the people ; and until the Reign of Terror had shocked the respectable 
portion of the advocates of the Revolution, these short-sighted friends of 
freedom had feared the success of the British arms, lest it should 
extinguish the dawn of liberty in the world. But the victory of the 1st of 
Junecaptivated the affections of the giddy multitude : the ancient, but 
recently half-expiring loyalty of the British people, wakened at the sound 
of their conquering cannon, and the hereditary rivalry of the two nations 
revived in all its force. From this period, may be dated the commence- 
ment of entire union among the inhabitants on the subject of the war. 

The secession of Prussia from the allied cause was a serious loss, and 
greatly embarrassed the opening movements of this year's campaign. 
Indeed, Mr. Pitt, by a renewed and energetic remonstrance, caused the 
Kino- of Prussia a second time to promise his cooperation, but no effectual 
aid resulted from it. General Mack was intrusted by the Austrian and 
English governments with the preparation of a plan of the campaign, and 
he proposed one which, had it been vigorously carried into effect, might 
have produced brilliant results : this was, to open the French frontier by 
the capture of Landrecy and march with the army in Flanders, through 
Laon direct to Paris, while the Prussian forces, by a forward movement 
on the side of Namur, supported the operation. This plan, however, was 
not adopted ; for the inhabitants of West Flanders protested against 
having their province made a theatre of war, the Prussians declined any 
active cooperation, and the remainder of the allied forces were unequal 
to such an expedition. The number and disposition of the troops on both 
sides, at the opening of the campaign, were as follows : 



1794.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 57 

French. 
Army of the North, . . 220,000 
Moselle and the Rhine, 280,000 

Alps, 60,000 

South, 60,000 

y^astern Pyrenees, . . . 80,000 
Western ditto . . . 80,000 



Allies. 




Flanders, 


140,000 


Duke of York, . . . 


40,000 


Austrians on the Rhine 


60,000 


Prussians ditto 


65,000 


Luxembourg, .... 


20,000 


Emigrants, 


12,000 



780,000 337,000 

Unaware, as yet, of the immense military resources of a despotic and 
revolutionary government, whose requisitions for soldiers, money and 
munitions of war were enforced by the terrors of the guillotine, and 
whose young men, deprived by the agitation of the period from all other 
occupation, voluntarily crowded into the ranks of the army, the allies 
resolved to capture Landrecy, and still entertained the hope of marching 
thence to Paris. Preparatory to this movement, the Emperor of Austria, 
on the 16th of April, reviewed a large division of the allied troops on the 
plains of Cateau, amounting to nearly one hundred and fifty thousand 
men. The troops were in the finest condition, the cavalry, in particular, 
were superb ; but, instead of profiting by their concentrated force to fall 
on the opposing armies, they were the next day divided into eight columns 
and spread over many leagues of the Flemish frontier, with the absurd 
intention of covering every point of entrance against the French; and 
that, loo, while their project of pushing forward to Paris was not yet 
abandoned. Landrecy was however besieged and captured, after ten days 
of open trenches, with its garrison of five thousand men. 

Notwithstanding the defect in the plans of the allies, their operations 
were attended with considerable success. The plan of the French con- 
sisted of a series of attacks on the posts and corps forming the line of the 
allies, followed by an advance of their two wings, the one toward Philip. 
ville, and the other toward Dunkirk. On the 26th of April, the move- 
ment took place along the whole line. The centre, which attacked the 
Duke of York near Cambray, experienced a bloody reverse. When the 
Republicans arrived at the redoubts of Troisville, they were intrepidly 
assailed by the English guards in front, supported by Prince Schwartzen- 
berg with a regiment of Austrian cuirassiers, while General Otto cliarged 
them in flank, at the head of the English cavalry, and completed their 
rout. The whole corps was driven back to Cambray, with a loss of thirty- 
five pieces of cannon and more than four thousand men. Whib' lliis dis- 
aster was taking place on the left of the French army, the centre sustained 
a similar repulse from the Austrian covering force. But these advant- 
ages were counterbalanced by the defeat of General Clairfait on the right, 
who was attacked by fifty thousand French troops under Souham and Mo- 
reau, and forced to retreat precipitately with a loss of thirty pieces of 
cannon and twelve hundred prisoners. Prince Cobourg immediately de- 
tached the Duke of York to Tfiurnay to support Clairfait, and himself 
remained in the neighborhood of Landrecy, to put that fortress in a state 
of defence. 

The Convention, greatly dissatisfied with the progress of their armies 
against the allied centre, ordered Jourdan to march with forty thousand 
men to the Ardenne forest, and unite himself with the army on the Sanibre. 



53 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. VIIL 

Previously to his march, on the lOlh of May, the French army crossed 
that river to attack the allies at Grandrengs, and a furious battle ensued, 
in wliich the Republicans were defeated, and forced to recross the river 
with a loss of ten pieces of cannon and four thousand men. On the 20th 
of May they renewed the attack, but were so roughly handled that, had 
not Kleber arrived on the ground with fresh troops, the French army 
would have been totally destroyed : as it was, they lost four thousand men 
and twenty-five pieces of artillery. 

While blood was thus flowing freely on the banks of the Sambre, some 
movements of importance took place in West Flanders. The allies had 
there collected ninety thousand men, and the sitiMtion of the French left 
wing suggested the design of cutting it off from the main body, and forcing 
it back on the sea, where it must needs surrender : and had the allies acted 
more in concert, they might readily have accomplished this bold under- 
taking. But, obstinately pursuing the old system of dividing their forces, 
they moved in separate detachments and were easily defeated in detail by 
the' French troops. On the 22nd of May, Pichegru assumed the command 
of the French, with the intention of laying siege to Tournay. A number 
of indecisive actions ensued, in which no object was accomplished, though 
large numbers of troops were destroyed ; no less than twenty tliousand 
men having fallen on the two sides. 

The result of these bloody actions, which demonstrated the strength of 
the Republicans, and showed the desperate strife that must follow any 
further attempts to Subdue them, produced a change in the Austrian coun- 
sels, and led to a determination on the part of the Emperor to withdraw 
from the contest as soon as decency would permit. 

Meanwhile, the Convention, unaware of this favorable change in their 
prospects, stimulated the army on the Sambre to fresh exertions. They 
again crossed that river under Kleber, on the 26th of May, but were easily 
repulsed. Nothing daunted, they renewed the attempt on the 29th, and 
this time succeeded in driving back the allies, after which they invested 
Charleroi. But the Emperor soon arrived with ten thousand additional 
troops, attacked the French lines on the 3rd of June, and again drove them 
across the Sambre. On the following day, Jourdan arrived with forty 
thousand men, and the French army, thus reenforced, returned to the siege 
of Charleroi, and on the 12th of June destroyed a strong redoubt which 
constituted its principal defence. The allies, alarmed at this result, made 
great effi^rts to raise the siege, and succeeded in breaking up the position 
of the Republicans, driving" them over the river with a loss of three thou- 
sand men. On the 18th of June, the French army for the fifth time crossed 
the Sambre, and for the third time invested Charleroi. As the French 
before this place now numbered seventy thousand men, it became 
necessary for the allies to reenforce the covering army, which was done 
by withdrawing the Austrian troops from the Scheldt, leaving the Duke 
of York with the English and Hanoverians alone in that position : this 
separation of the Austrian and English forces contributed not a little to 
augment the misunderstanding which already existed between those two 
nations. The Austrian auxiliaries did not arrive in time to relieve Char- 
leroi, which capitulated on the 25th of June. The garrison had hardly 
left the gates, however, when the Austrians arrived ; and, as the allied 
forces were now sufficiently numerous to warrant the undertaking, they 
resolved to hazard a battle. This took place on the 26th, on the plains 



1794.J HISTORYOFEUROPE. 59 

of Fleurus: it was commenced in the morning and continued with great 
vigor throughout the whole day. In the event, the allies retreated, leaving 
the French masters of the field ; but neither party had any cause for tri- 
umoh. The loss on both sides was nearly equal, being between four and 
five thousand men of each army : but this material advantage ensued to 
the French, that by the eastwardly movement of the Austrians and the 
pacific intentions of their Emperor, Flanders was in effect abandoned to 
the Republican armies, who not long after were enabled to concentrate 
themselves without opposition at Brussels. The solo care of the British 
was now to cover Antwerp and Holland ; but on the 15th of July, they 
were forced to evacuate the former, after which they withdrew their 
whole force to Breda for the defence of the latter. 

While the fortune of war was thus decisively inclining to the Republi- 
can side on the northern frontier, events of but trifling importance were 
taking place on the Rhine, though their tendency was favorable to the 
French. In Piedmont, they gained a more decided advantage, General 
Dumas having made himself master of Little St. Bernard and Mount Ce- 
nis, by which means the whole ridge of the Alps separating Piedmont from 
Savoy, fell into the possession of the Republican troops, and the keys of 
Italy were placed in the hands of the French government. The opera- 
tions on the frontiers of Nice, under the direction of General Bonaparte, 
were not less successful, and before the end of May, the Republicans 
were masters of all the passes through the maritime Alps ; while, from 
the summit of Mount Cenis they threatened a descent upon the valley of 
Susa, and from the Col di Tende they could advance without interruption 
to the siege of Coni. 

On the Spanish frontier, the war assumed a still more decisive aspect. 
The reduction of Toulon having enabled the central government to de- 
tach General Dugommier to reenforce the army on the Eastern Pyrenees, 
it was resolved to act otfensively at both extremities of that range of moun- 
tains. During the winter, great exertions had been made to improve the 
discipline and condition of the French troops ; while on the other hand, 
the Spanish government, destitute of energy, and exhausted by the exer- 
tions they had already made, were unable to maintain the number and 
efficiency of their forces. Before the end of the year 1793, they had been 
reduced to the necessity of issuing more than sixty millions of dollars in 
paper money, secured on the income of the tobacco-tax ; but all their 
eflTorts to recruit their armies from the natives of the country proved inef- 
fectual, and they were obliged to take into their service some of the foreign- 
ers employed in the siege of Toulon. Between two such contending 
powers as the French and Spanish, victory could not long remain doubtful. 
The Republicans prevailed in almost every encounter, defeating and dis- 
piriting the Spanish troops, making them prisoners, taking their cannon, 
and capturing not only the fortresses of which they had possessed them- 
selves on the French territory in the preceding campaign, but also the 
Spanish fortresses of Figueras and Rosas, two of the most important posts 
on the whole frontier, hitherto regarded as nearly impregnable, and of the 
greatest importance to the French as they laid open the richest plains 
of Spain to their invasion. Nor were the Spaniards more successful on 
the Western Pyrenees, where the French made themselves masters of St. 
Marcial, Bidossoa, Fontarabia, and St. Sebastian ; and thus, as early as 
August found themselves firmly posted in the Spanish territory, with am- 



60 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. VHL 

pie magazines and stores both of provisions and ammunition. These terri- 
ble disasters compelled the Spaniards to sue for peace, which the French 
government were not unwilling to grant, as by so doing they could avail 
themselves of the experienced soldiers who had gained these conquests, 
to reenfjrce their armies for the expedition they meditated on the south 
of the Alps. 

Meantime, the French armies in the north, after a delay of nearly two 
months, resumed the offensive. Jourdan and Kleber defeated the retreat- 
ing Austrians in a pitched battle at Ruremonde, captured the castle of 
Rheinfels, and the noble fortress of Maestricht with its three hundred and 
fifty pieces of cannon — so that, on the left of the Rhine, the Imperialists 
retained nothing of all their possessions but Luxemlx)urg and Mayence. 
On the other side, IVloreau pressed the Duke of York and compelled him 
to retire to the right bank of the Meuse, leaving Bergen-op-Zoom, Breda 
and Bois-Ie-Duc to their own I'esources. Pichegru then pushed on with 
seventy tl'.ousand troops to Bois-le-Duc, which he soon forced to capitulate. 
He followed up his success, crossed the IVIeuse, drove the Duke of York 
with considerable loss across the Waal, and invested Grave and Venloo, 
which latter place surrendered to the French musketry alone. 

These successes of the French in the north, great as they were, formed 
but the prelude to a winter campaign of still more decisive results. On 
the 27th of October, Pichegru laid siege to Nimeguen, where the Duke 
of York was intrenched with thirty thousand men. The Duke made a 
vigorous sally when the Republicans had taken up their position, and 
repulsed them for the moment ; but the French soon strengthened their 
approaches, and the Duke, finding it impossible to protect the place, 
evacuated it in the night, leaving but three thousand Dutch troops for its 
defence ; and the next day this fine fortress, which commands the passage 
of the Waal, fell into the hands of the French. 

The French army now stood in great need of repose ; but the Convention, 
inflamed with the spirit of conquest, kept them in the field, and insisted 
on renewed exertions. Accordingly, on the 23th of December, they 
commenced their winter campaign by an attack, in two columns, on the 
Dutch advanced posts. The Dutch troops, after a slight resistance, fled 
in confusion, leaving sixty pieces of cannon and sixteen hundred prisoners 
behind them. On the following day, Grave capitulated, and Breda, one 
of the last of the Dutch barrier towns, was invested. 

The States-General of Hollatid, being now deserted by the allies and 
wholly unable to resist the overwhelming forces of the French, made 
proposals of peace to the Convention, offering to recognize the Republic 
and pav two hundred millions of francs. The Convention, however, had 
resolved to establish their revolutionary government in Holland, and 
would listen to no proposals, but ordered Pichegru to subdue that devoted 
couiifrv. The unprecedented cold of the winter aided in giving an 
unlooked-for success to this ambitious determination, for the rivers were 
so frozen as to ofler a fi'ce jiassage to the troops. The situation of the 
Prince of Orange was now embarrassing in the last degree. He presented 
himself before the States General, and declaring that he had done his 
uttermost to save the country, avowed his determination to retire from his 
command : at the same time, he rcconnnended them to make a separate 
peace with the enemy. He then embarked for England, and the States 
imjnediaiely ordered their troops to cease all resistance, while they 



1794.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 61 

dispatched ambassadors to Pichegru's head-quarters with new proposals 
for peace. 

The French Generals, desirous to avoid the appearance of subjugating 
the Dutch, were pausing in their career, expecting that revolutionary 
movements would manifest themselves in the principal towns, to which, 
indtv^d, they incited the inhabitants by encouraging proclamations. The 
event justified their expectations. On the 18th of January, 1795, the 
popular party in Amsterdam surrounded the burgomasters in the town- 
hall, at the moment when the advanced guard of the French army reached 
the gate of that city. The magistrates, in alarm, resigned their authority ; 
Democratic leaders were installed in their places ; the tricolor flag was 
hoisted on the H6tel-de-Ville, and the Republican troops entered the town 
amid the shouts of the multitude. The conquest of this rich and powerful 
city, which had defied the whole power of Louis XIV, and imposed such 
severe conditions on France at the treaties of Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle, 
was of great importance to the French government. Utrecht, Leyden, 
Haarlem, and all the other towns of Holland soon underwent a similar 
revolution and received the French troops as deliverers. But an event, 
still more marvellous, succeeded these rapid and surprising conquests : 
namely, the capture of the Dutch fleet of fifty vessels, by a squadron of 
French cavalry ! The ships were at the time frozen up in the Texel ; 
and the Republican forces, after having crossed the lake of Biesbos on 
he ice and made themselves masters of the arsenal of Dordrecht, contain- 
mg six hundred cannons, ten thousand muskets and immense stores of am- 
munition, passed through Rotterdam and took possession of the Hague. A 
bod}' of cavalry now crossed the Zuyder Zee, and summoned the fleet: the 
commanders, confounded at the hardihood of the enterprise, immediately 
surrendered to this novel kind of assailants. The province of Zealand 
capitulated about the same time, Friesland and Groningen were succes- 
sively evacuated, the British troops embarked for England, and the whole 
of the United Provinces submitted to the Republican arms. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The kingdom of Poland formerly extended from the Borysthcnes to the 
Danube, and from the Euxine to the Baltic. She was the Sarmatia of 
the ancients, and embraced, within her borders, the original scat of those 
nations which subverted the Roman Empire. Prussia, Moravia, Bohemia, 
Hungary, the Ukraine, Courland and Livonia are all fragments of her 
once mighty dominion. The Goths, who appeared as suppliants on the 
Danube, and were ferried across by Roman hands never to he rlriven 
back ; the Huns, who under Attila spread desolation through the Empire; 
the Sclavonians, who overspread the greater part of Europe — all emerged 
from her vast and uncultivated plains. But her subsequent progress has 
ill corresponded to such a commencement : her greatest triiinijjhs have 
ever been succeeded by her greatest reverses ; the establishment of her 



62 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. IX. 

internal freedom has led to nothing but external disaster, and the deliverer 
of Europe in one age, was in the next swept from the book of nations. 

These extraordinary facts have arisen from one cause : that Poland 
retained, until a modern period, the independence and equality of her 
ancient savage life. She was neither subjugated by more polished States, 
nor did she vanquish more civilized ones ; the simplicity and bravery of 
the pastoral character remained unchanged in her native plains for fifteen 
hundred years. And as Poland then was, she ever continued — a race of 
jealous freemen and iron-bound slaves ; a wild democracy ruling a 
captive people. After representative assemblies had been established for 
centuries in Germany, France and England, the Poles adhered to their 
ancient custom of summoning every freeman to discuss, sword in hand, 
the affairs of the Republic. An hundred thousand horsemen met always 
for this purpose in the field of Volo, near Warsaw ; and this terrible as- 
sembly, where all the proprietors of the soil were convoked, constituted 
at once the military strength of the nation in war, and its legislature in 
peace. In the estimation of this haughty race, the will of a freeman was 
what no human power should attempt to control ; and, therefore, it was 
the fundamental principle of all their deliberations, that no resolution 
could be adopted but by a literally unanimous vote. This relic of savage 
equality was productive of incalculable evils to the Republic ; yet, so 
blind are men to the cause of their own ruin, it was ever adhered to by 
the Poles with enthusiastic obstinacy, and is even spoken of with ad- 
miration by their national historians. Unanimity, however, is a virtual 
impossibility in human legislation ; and as it could not occur in Poland 
more than elsewhere, and as it was indispensable, nevertheless, that the 
affairs of their government should go on, the Poles adopted the only other 
method of expedhing their deliberations : they massacred the minority. 
This appeared to them an evil incomparably less than carrying measures 
by a majority : " Because," they reasoned, " the acts of violence are few 
in number, and affect only the individual sufferers : but if once the pre- 
cedent is established of compelling the minority to be governed by the 
majority, there is an end to the liberty of the people." 

The clergy, that important body who have done so much for the freedorii 
of Europe, never formed a separate order, or possessed any spiritual 
influence in Poland : the order was confined to the nobles, who had no 
sympathy with the serfs, and disdained to admit them to any of their 
sacred offices. The inequality of fortune, too, and the rise of urban 
industry, the source of so much benefit to all tlie other European powers, 
was in Poland productive of positive evil. Fearful of being compelled 
to divide their power with the inferior classes when they chanced to be 
elevated by riches and intelligence, the nobles affixed the stigma of 
dishonor to every lucrative or useful profession. Their maxim was, that 
nobility is not lost by indigence, or even by domestic servitude, but is 
destroyed by commerce and industry : their constant policy was, also, to 
debar "the serfs from the use of arms ; for, though they continued to de- 
spise, they had also learned to fear them. In short, the freemen, or nobility 
of Poland, strenuously resisting every kind of power and every attempt at 
superiority on the part of the lower orders, as a usurpation, and, on their 
own part,'every kind of industry as a degradation, remained, to the close 
of their career, at open variance with all the principles on which the 
prosperity of society depends. 



1794.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 63 

The crown of Poland, though held long by the great families of the 
Jagellons and the Piasts, had always been elective. The king disposed 
of all offices in the Republic, and a principal part of his duty consisted 
in goin"- from province to province to administer justice in person. The 
nobility carried his sentences into execution with their own armed force ; 
and as there was never any considerable standing army in the service of 
the Republic, the military force of the throne was altogether nugatory. 

Nothing can so strongly demonstrate the wonderful power of democ- 
racy and its desolating effects when unrestrained, as the history of John 
Sobieski. The force, which this illustrious champion of Christendom 
could bring into the field to defend his country from Mohammedan in- 
vasion, seldom amounted to fifteen thousand men ; and when, previous 
to the battle of Kotzim, he found himself, by an extraordinary effort, at 
the head of forty thousand, of whom hardl}'^ one-half were disciplined, he 
was inspired with such confidence, that he attacked without hesitation 
eighty thousand Turkish veterans strongly intrenched, and gained over 
them the greatest victory that had been achieved by the Christian arms 
since the battle of Ascalon. The troops which he led to the rescue of 
Vienna were but eighteen thousand native Poles, and the combined Chris- 
tian armies amounted to only seventy thousand combatants ; yet with this 
force he routed three hundred thousand Turks, and broke the Mussulman 
power so effectually, that the crescent of Mohammed steadily receded 
before the other European powers, and from that period, historians date 
the decline of the Ottoman Empire. Yet after these glorious triumphs, 
the ancient dissensions of the Republic revived and paralyzed its strength, 
the defence of the frontiers was intrusted to a few undisciplined horsemen, 
and the Polish nation, to their eternal disgrace, allowed this heroic king to 
be besieged by innumerable hordes of barbarians for months, before 
they would advance to his relief. Sobieski, worn out at last with inef- 
fectual endeavors to create a regular government, or establish a permanent 
force for the protection of Poland, foretold the fate of the Republic in his 
death-bed address to the Senate, wherein he assured them that their 
dangers as a nation arose not from external enemies, but from the 
vices of their own unenlightened government ; and he predicted that 
within forty years the Republic would cease to be. His prophecy was 
not literally fulfilled, for the glories of his reign prolonged the existence 
of Poland nearly a century ; but, though he erred as to the time, he was 
right as to the fact of its speedy dissolution. 

Never did a people exhibit a more extraordinary spectacle than the 
Poles after this period. Two factions divided the kingdom, and kept it 
in a perpetual war : each faction had its army, and each army was a 
foreign army. The inferior noblesse introduced the Saxons, and the 
superior called the Swedes to their aid ; so that, from the time of Sobieski's 
death, strangers never ceased to reign in Poland ; its national forces were 
continually diminishing, and, at length, totally disappeared. When, 
therefore, the adjoining states of Russia and Austria effected the first 
partition of Poland, in 1772, they were not required to conquer a kingdom, 
but only to take shares of a state which had fallen to pieces. The 
election of Stanislaus Poniatowski to the remnant of the throne of Poland, 
in 1784, took place literally under the buckler; but it was the buckler of 
the Muscovite, the Cossack and the Tartar, who overshadowed the plain 
of Volo with their arras. 



64 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. IX. 

The next struggle of the Poles, like all that preceded it, originated in 
their own dissensions. The partisans of the ancient anarchy revolted 
against the new and more stable Constitution of Poniatowski : they took 
up arms at Targowice, and invoked the aid of the Empress of Russia to 
restore the disorder from which she had already gained so much. A 
second dismemberment took place on the 14th of October, 1793, and, in 
the disordered state of the country, it was effected without opposition. 
Prussia and Russia took this partition upon themselves, and their troops 
were at first quietly cantoned in the provinces which they had severally 
seized. 

There is a certain degree of calamity which subdues man's courage; 
but there is also another degree which, by reducing men to desperation, 
leads to the greatest enterprises : and to this latter state the Poles were 
now reduced. Abandoned by all the world, distracted with internal 
divisions, destitute of fortresses and resources, the patriots of that unhappy 
country resolved to make a bold effort to recover their freedom. The 
first m.ovemcnt was made by a band of these brave men, at Warsaw, and 
they made choice of Kosciusko to direct their efforts. 

This illustrious hero, who had received the rudiments of military 
education in France, and had afterward served with distinction in the 
American war for independence, was every way qualified to head the 
last struggle for freedom of the oldest republic in the world. Having, by 
aid of the regiments which had revolted, and the junction of some bodies 
of half-armed peasants, collected a force of five thousand men, Kosciusko 
left Cracow and advanced into the open country. He encountered a 
detachment of three thousand Russians at Ralsowice, on the 8th of April, 
1794, and routed them with great slaughter. This action, inconsidera- 
ble in itself, was important in its consequences. The Polish peasants 
exchanged their scythes for the arms found on the field of battle, and the 
insurrection, encouraged by this gleam of success, soon extended into the 
adjoining provinces. Stanislaus in vain disavowed the acts of his subjects ; 
the passion for independence spread with the rapidity of lightning, and 
soon every patriot in Poland was in arms. 

Intelligence of the victory at Ralsowice reached Warsaw on the 12th 
of April ; a violent agitation ensued, and on the morning of the 17th, the 
briyade of Polish guards, under direction of their officers, attacked the 
governor's house and the arsenal, and was speedily joined by the populace. 
The Russian and Prussian troops in the neighborhood of the capital were 
about seven thousand men, who, after a prolonged contest in the streets 
for six-and-thirty hours, were driven across the Vistula, with the loss of 
three thousand men in killed and prisoners. Immediately, the flag of 
independence was hoisted on the towers of Warsaw. 

Kosciusko now did everything that courage and energy could suggest 
to put on foot a formidable force to protect the revolt : a provisional gov- 
ernment was established, and in a short time, forty thousand men were 
raised — an effort highly honorable to the patriotism of the Poles, although 
the army was inconsiderable, compared with the forces that Russia and 
Prussia could bring into the field. 

No sooner was the King of Prussia informed of the Revolution at 
Warsaw, than he moved forward at the head of thirty thousand men to 
besiege that city, while the Russian General Suwarrow, with forty 
thousand veterans, prepared to overrun the southeastern parts of the 



1794.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 65 

kingdom. Aware of the necessity of striking a blow before the enemy's 
forces were concentrated, Kosciusko, with twelve thousand men, marched 
to attack the Russian General Denisoff ; but on approaching his corps, he 
discovered that he had already effected a junction with the king of 
Prussia. He retreated immediately, but was pursued by the allies, over- 
taken near Sckoczyre, and after a gallant defence, defeated ; upon which 
Cracow fell into the hands of the conquerors. This check was the more 
unfortunate, as about the same time General Zayonschuk was defeated at 
Chelne, and compelled to cross the Vistula, leaving the whole right bank 
of that river without defence. 

The combined Russian and Prussian armies now advanced against 
Warsaw, where Kosciusko occupied an intrenched camp with twenty- 
five thousand men. During the whole of July and August they pressed 
the siege of this capital, at the end of which time, the king of Prussia, 
despairing of success, raised the siege and withdrew his army, leaving a 
portion of his sick and stores in the hands of the patriots. 

Encouraged by this event, the Poles were enabled to recruit their 
forces to nearly eighty thousand men under arms ; but they were in- 
judiciously scattered over too extensive a line of country, and exposed 
to being beaten in detail. Indeed, the enthusiasm occasioned by the 
raising of the siege of Warsaw had not subsided before Sizakowski, with 
ten thousand men, was defeated by the Russians under Suwarrow, on the 
17th of September. This celebrated general, to whom the principal 
conduct of the war was now committed, followed up his success with the 
utmost spirit. The retreating army was again assailed on the 19th, and, 
after a brave resistance, driven into the woods below Janovv and Biala, 
with a loss of four thousand men and twenty-eight pieces of cannon. On 
receiving intelligence of this disaster, Kosciusko resolved to concentrate 
his forces and fall upon General Fersen before he could join Suwarrow, 
who was now advancing against Warsaw. With this view, he ordered 
General Poninsky to come up with his forces, and himself moved on to 
the attack. But when he arrived at the Russian position, he found that 
Poninsky had delayed his march, and was not there to join in the combat. 
Nevertheless, fearing to retreat, he was forced to make his dispositions for 
the battle, which took place on the 4th of October. The Poles contested 
the ground most gallantly ; but they were inferior to the enemy, both in 
numbers and discipline, and were at length defeated with a loss of nearly 
half their number, and Kosciusko was himself made prisoner. The 
retreating army, reduced to seven thousand five hundred men, fell back 
in confusion toward Warsaw. 

After the fall of Kosciusko, nothing but a series of disasters awaited 
the Poles. The Austrians overran the yet unconquered provinces; and 
Suwarrow, with his entire army, advanced upon Praga, where twenty-six 
thousand Poles, with one hundred pieces of cannon, defended the bridge of 
the Vistula and the approach to Warsaw. On the 4th of November the 
Russians, in seven columns, assailed the ramparts, rapidly filled up the 
ditches with their fascines, broke down the defences, and poured their 
battalions into the intrenched camp. The defenders in vain did their ut- 
most to resist the torrent. The wooden houses of Praga took fire, and 
amid the shouts of the victors and the cries of the inhabitants, the Poles 
were borne back to the edge of the Vistula. Ten thousand soldiers fell 
on the spot, nine thousand were made prisoners, and twelve thousand citi- 
C 



66 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. X. 

zens, without distinction of sex or age, were put to the sword : a dreadful 
carnage, which has left a lasting stain on the name of Suwarrow, and 
which Russia expiated in the conflagration of Moscow. 

The tragedy now closed. Warsaw capitulated ; the detached parties 
of the patriots melted away, and Poland was no more. 

Such was the termination of the eldest Republic in existence, and such 
the first instance of the total destruction of a member of the European 
family by its ambitious rivals. The event excited a profound sensation 
in Europe. The folly of its preceding career, the irretrievable defects 
of the Polish constitution, were forgotten ; and Poland was remembered 
only as the bulwark of Christendom against the Ottomans. The bloody 
march of the French Revolution was overlooked, and the Christian world 
was penetrated with a grief akin to that felt by all civilized nations at the 
fall of Jerusalem. 

The poet has celebrated these events in the immortal lines : 

" Oh ! bloodiest picture in the book of Time : 
Sarmatia fell, unwept, without a crime ; 
Found not a generous friend, a pitying foe, 
Strength in her arms, nor mercy in her wo I 
Dropped from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear, 
Closed her bright eye, and curbed her high career: 
Hope for a season bade the world farewell. 
And Freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fell !" 

But the truth of history must dispel this illusion, and unfold, in the fall 
of Poland, the natural consequences of its national delinquencies. Sar- 
matia did not fall unwept, nor without a crime : she fell the victim of her 
own dissensions ; of the chimera of equality insanely pursued, and the 
rigor of aristocracy unceasingly maintained : of extravagant jealousy of 
every superior, and merciless oppression of every inferior rank. The 
eldest born of the European family was the first to perish, because she 
had thwarted all the ends of the social union ; because she had united the 
turbulence of democratic, to the exclusion of aristocratic societies ; because 
she had the vacillation of a Republic without its energy, and the oppres- 
sion of a monarchy without its stability. Such a system neither could 
be, nor ought to be, maintained. 



CHAPTER X. 

CONSOLIDATION OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT : CAMPAIGN OF 1795. 

On the day after the fall of Robespierre, there were but two parties' in 
Paris ; that of the Committee, who strove to maintain their Jacobin ascend- 
ency, and that of the Liberators, who labored to overthrow it. The lat- 
ter party was known by the name of Thermidoriatis, from the day on 
which its members had triumphed over the dictator ; it consisted of the 
whole centre of the National Convention, together with the remnant of the 
Royalists and the party of Danton. The Jacobins were still powerful, 
however, and the Thermidorians were cautious about measuring their 



1795.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 67 

strength with them ; but the friends of clemency gained daily accessions 
to their force. On the 30th of July, 1794, the contest was brought to an 
issue. Barere, on the part of the Jacobins, rose in his place and proposed 
that the Revolutionary Tribunal should be continued, and that Fouquier 
Tinville should still act as public accuser. At the pronouncing of that 
name a murmur of indignation was heard in the assembly, and Freron 
cried out, " I propose that we purge the earth of that monster, and that 
he be sent to lick up in hell the blood that he has shed." This proposal 
being carried by acclamation, Barere left the tribune ; and Tinville was 
brought to trial with fourteen of his most guilty associates, who were 
all condemned and executed. 

The next measures of the Convention were of a humane tendency. 
They repealed the law against suspected persons; and although the Revo- 
lutionary Tribunal continued its sittings, its forms were remodelled, and 
its vengeance was directed chiefly against the authors of former outrages. 
The captives were gradually released from confinement, and instead of 
the falal tumbrils that formerly stood at the gates of the prisons, crowds 
of joyous citizens there welcomed with transport their liberated parents or 
children. At the end of two months, out of ten thousand suspected per- 
sons, not one remained in the prisons of Paris. 

In order to strengthen themselves more effectually for the future, the 
Thermidorians enlisted in their support such youths of the metropolis as 
belonged to the most respectable families who had lost some relative at 
the guillotine, and were therefore irreconcilably hostile to the Jacobins. 
To distinguish them from the populace, they wore a particular dress called 
the Costume a la V/.ctime ; they bore in their arms short, loaded clubs ; and 
were known by the name of La Jeunesse Dor^e. The contests between 
them and the Jacobins at length assumed an important character. Paris 
became one vast field of battle, in which each strove for the mastery. 
The strife was long and obstinate ; but finally the Convention passed a 
decree dissolving the Jacobin clubs all over Paris, and the Jeunesse Doree 
carried it into execution with force of arms. 

The Convention gradually repealed the laws passed during the Revo- 
lutionary government: that, namely, regulating the price of provisions, 
the prohibitions against the Christian worship, the statutes confiscating the 
property of tlie Girondists, and an act restoring to the original owners such 
property, confiscated by the government, as had not been disposed of to 
third parties. They next proceeded to the decided step of impeaching 
Varennes, Collot d' Herbois, Barere, Vadier, and other prominent leaders 
of the Jacobins, who had been most active in the cruelties of the Reign of 
'I'error. This bold measure produced a great agitation, and a revolt was 
organized in the fauxbourgs to prevent their trial from proceeding. The 
insurgents forced their way into the assembly, and were about to recom- 
mence their scenes of violence, so common in the preceding year, when 
a band of the Jeunesse Doree made their appearance and quickly dispersed 
the mob. The trial proceeded and the parties were all found guilty ; but 
the Thermidorians, from considerations of policy, made a humane use of 
their victory. Varennes, Collot d' Herbois, and Barere were condemned 
to the limited punishment of transportation ; and seventeen members of 
the Mountain were put under arrest and conducted to the chateau of Ham. 

By the fall of Robespierre and the execution of his associates, the Ja- 
cobins had lost the municipality ; the closing of their clubs had deprived 
02 



6S HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. X. 

them of their centre of operations ; and the late exile of so many of their 
members had taken from them their ablest leaders. Still, there remained 
to them the forces of the fauxbourgs, the inhabitants of which had retained 
their arms ; and their failure in attempting to rescue Varennes and the 
rest had not discouraged them. A new insurrection was agreed on for the 
20th of May, 1795, on which day no less than thirty thousand men, armed 
with pikes, proceeded to the hall of the Convention. When the members 
were informed of their approach, they passed resolutions for summoning 
the National Guard, and making other provision for their defence ; but the 
danger that was at their very door, could not be resisted by legislative 
enactments. The multitude crowded into the hall, tore the president from 
his chair, and as Ferraud, with generous devotion, threw himself before 
the mob, to intercept the blows destined for the president, he was mortally 
wounded, dragged out, and beheaded in the lobby. The rabble then took 
possession of the seats vacated by the terrified members of the Conven- 
iion, and proceeded at once to organize a new government. Everything 
seemed to indicate a complete revolution. 

But, though the Convention was thus forcibly dissolved, its committees 
still existed, and their firmness saved France. They immediately con- 
vened, passed resolutions befitting the emergency, and, when night 
approached, proceeded with the National Guard and the Jeunesse Doree 
lo the hall where the insurgents were legislating. A violent contest 
ensued, but it resulted in the defeat of the Jacobins, and, at midnight, the 
members of the Convention resumed their places. All that had been 
done by the rebel authority was annulled, and twenty-eight members who 
had supported their proceedings were put under arrest. On the following 
day, the Jacobins renewed their attempts, and again surrounded the 
Convention, bringing with them a train of artillery, which was deliberately 
placed in position for an attack. But the National Guard and Jeunesse 
Doree stood this time on the alert, and the insurgents were summarily 
defeated. 

Instructed by such disasters and escapes, the Convention now resolved 
on decisive measures : and six of the most turbulent leaders of the 
Mountain were delivered over to the military commission, and executed. 
The murderer of the deputy Ferraud was next discovered, tried, and 
condemned. On the occasion of his execution, the Convention, anticipating 
another revolt, ordered the disarming of the fauxbourgs, which was 
effectually accomplished by the firmness of the National Guard, who, 
thirty thousand strong, and provided with artillery and mortars, brought 
the refractory inhabitants to submission. Soon after, the National Guard 
was reorganized by the exclusion from its ranks of all indigent citizens, 
and from that day the multitude ceased to rule in Paris. 

The Convention now proceeded to form a new Constitution, in which 
some of the fundamental principles of the Revolution were unequivocally 
repudiated ; and, so contagious was this spirit of reaction, Royalist 
doctrines began rapidly to gain currency. The National Guard and 
Jeunesse Doree of several sections openly espoused the Royalist side, 
while in the South of France bands were organized, who traversed the 
country, and executed dreadful reprisals on the Revolutionary party. 
At Lyons, Aix, Tarascon and Marseilles, they massacred the Jacobin 
prisoners without trial or discrimination, and the horrors of the 2nd of 
September, with the exception of the reverse of parties, were reenacted 



1795.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 69 

in most of the prisons of that part of the country. The people, exasperated 
with their remembrances of the Reign of Terror, were insatiable in their 
vengeance. They invoked the names of parents, brothers, or sisters, 
when retaliating on their oppressors ; and, while themselves committing 
murders, cried to their victims, with every stroke : " Die, assassins ! " 

Meanwhile, the framing of the new Constitution was completed. By 
this instrument, the third one that had been formed in France during a 
few years, the legislative power was divided into two Councils ; that of 
the Five Hundred, and that of the Ancients. The Council of Five Hundred 
was intrusted with the sole power of originating laws, and the Council of 
the Ancients, with the power of passing or rejecting them ; and to insure 
the prudent discharge of this duty, no person could be a member of the 
latter Council till he had reached the age of forty. The executive power 
was lodged in the hands of five Directors, to be nominated by the Council 
of Five Hundred, and approved by the Ancients : they were liable to 
impeachment for misconduct, were each to be president for three months 
by rotation, and every year one new Director was to be chosen, and one 
to retire to make room for him. This Directory had the disposal of the 
army and finances, the appointment of public functionaries, and the 
control of public negotiations. They were lodged, during the period of 
their official duty, in the Palace of the Luxembourg, and attended by a 
guard of honor. The elective franchise was greatly restricted by the 
new charter, being confined entirely to proprietors ; all popular societies 
were interdicted, and the press was declared absolutely free. 

It is important to recollect that this Constitution, so cautiously framed to 
exclude the direct influence of the people, and curb the excesses of popular 
licentiousness, was the voluntary work of the very Convention which 
had come into power under the democratic Constitution of 1793, and 
immediately after the 10th of August; which had voted the death of the 
King, the imprisonment of the Girondists, and the execution of Danton ; 
which had supported the bloody excesses of the Revolutionary Tribunal, 
and survived the horrors of the reign of Robespierre. Let it no longer be 
said, therefore, that the evils of popular rule are imaginary dangers, 
contradicted by the experience of mankind. The checks thus imposed on 
the power of the people, were the work of their own delegates, chosen by 
universal suffi-age, during a season of unexampled public excitement, 
whose proceedings had been marked by a more violent love o( freedom 
than any that ever before existed from the beginning of the world. 
Nothing can speak so strongly for the necessity of controlling the people, 
as the acts of the representatives whom they had themselves chosen to 
confirm their power. 

The discussion of this Constitution in the assemblies of the people to 
whom it was referred, produced the most violent agitation throughout 
France. Paris, as usual, took the lead. Its forty-eight Sections were 
constantly assembled, and the public effervescence resembled that of 1789. 
This was brought to its height by an additional clause in the Constitution, 
wherein the Convention decreed that two-thirds of their own number should 
be incorporated into the new legislature, and that, therefore, the electors 
should fill up only the remainder. 

This rapid stride toward despotism was loudly resisted all over France. 
The National Guard of Paris declared their opposition, and the Jeunesse 
Doree pledged themselves to resist it. But the Convention did not waver. 
03 " 



70 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. X. 

They had first lost the support of the Jacobins by their proscription ; and 
now, that of the Royalists by their ambition : one power remained, and 
they appealed to it — The Army. They submitted the Constitution to the 
soldiers, and it was by them unanimously appi"oved. A body of five thou- 
sand regular troops assembled in the neighborhood of Paris, and their 
adhesion to the Convention was eagerly proclaimed to the citizens. The 
Sections of Paris, however, openly resolved to revolt. A meeting of the 
electors took place on the 3rd of October, at the Theatre Francais, under 
the protection of the National Guard, where they unanimously decided on 
resistance. 

But while these things were in progress, the Convention was not idle. 
They passed a decree, dissolving the electoral bodies in Paris, and em- 
bodying into a regiment fifteen hundred Jacobins, many of whom were 
liberated from the prisons for that especial purpose. General Menou was 
appointed to the command of this armed force, and he advanced with the 
troops of the line to disperse the Sections. But Menou had not the energy 
requisite for such service, and, instead of attacking, he entered into nego- 
tiations with the insurgents, and retired in the evening without having 
effected anything. His failure gave the Sections the advantage of a 
victory, and the National Guard mustered in greater strength than ever, 
and resolved to attack the Convention on the following day. The Con- 
vention, learning what Menou had done, immediately dismissed him, and 
gave the command to General Barras, who solicited the appointment, as 
second in command, of a young officer of artillery who had distinguished 
himself at Toulon and in the maritime Alps — Napoleon Bonaparte. This 
young officer was at once introduced to the committee. His manner was 
timid and embarrassed ; the career of public life was yet new to him ; but 
his clear and distinct opinions inspired the committee with confidence, and 
they invested him with the desired command. 

Under his direction, fifty pieces of artillery were immediately so disposed 
as to command all the avenues to the Convention, and, early on the fol- 
lowing morning, the neighborhood of the Tuileries resembled an intrenched 
camp. In this position. Napoleon awaited the attack of the insurgents, 
who amounted to no less than thirty thousand men, while the army of the 
Convention did not exceed six thousand. But the insurgents had no 
artillery, and though they were individually brave men, they could not 
long sustain a close contest with disciplined troops. The battle was soon 
terminated by the total overthrow of the National Guard, and the Con- 
vention, from that day, held the undisputed control of the Republic. 

While these important changes were. taking place within the French 
dominions, other events of moment occurred on her frontier and throughout 
Europe. 

The great success which everywhere attended the French arms at the 
conclusion of the campaign of 1794, led, early in the following year, to a 
dissolution of the confederacy between the allied sovereigns. Prussia, 
Spain, Bavaria, the Elector of Mayence, and other powers, successively 
detached themselves from the league, and some of them entered into 
separate treaties of peace with France ; while Holland was forced to 
conclude with France an offensive and defensive treaty, and bound to aid 
in prosecuting the war against the enemies of the Republic. Austria and 
England remained firm in their determination to continue the war, and 
Mr. Pitt and Thugut, the respective-ministers of the two nations, formed 



1795.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 71 

a new treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, by which Austria agreed 
to maintain two hundred thousand men in the field, and England contracted 
to furnish a subsidy of six million pounds sterling, for their support. 
England made exertions for the pi'osecution of the war more con- 
siderable than she had yet put forth, and seemed sensible that renewed 
efforts were indispensable now that the strife threatened to approach her 
own shores. Her naval force was augmented to one hundred thousand 
seamen, one hundred and eight ships of the line were put in commission, 
and the land forces raised to one hundred and fifty thousand men. The 
expenditure of the year, exclusive of the interest of the national debt, 
amounted to twenty-seven and a half millions sterling, of which eighteen 
millions were raised by loan, and three and a half millions by exchequer 
bills. To such an immense extent, thus early in the contest, was the 
ruinous system of providing for the expense of the year by borrowing, 
adopted by the British government. On the 18th of February, Russia 
became a party to the new treaty of alliance, though this measure was 
not at fii'st productive of important results. The Empress Catherine was 
as yet too much occupied in the affairs of Poland, and too little interested 
in the continental war, to take an active part in the present campaign ; 
she merely sent twelve ships of the line, and eight frigates, to reenforce 
Admiral Duncan in blockading the fleet recently acquired by France 
from the Dutch Republic. 

During the winter of 1794-5, the French government made great 
efforts to put their navy on a respectable footing ; and, early in March, 
an expedition was fitted out at Toulon, consisting of thirteen ships of the 
line and carrying eighteen thousand land troops, intended to recover pos- 
session of Corsica. Lord Hotham, who commanded the English block- 
ading fleet in the Mediterranean, was at Leghorn when this French fleet 
sailed, but was ignorant of their movements ; and the French succeeded 
in capturing the Berwick seventy-four gun ship in the Gulf of St. Florent, 
the whole Republican fleet having come upon her unawares. The British 
admiral immediately put to sea with thirteen line-of-battle ships, and fell 
in with the French squadron on the 15th of March. He captured two 
ships of the line, the Ca Ira and the Censeur, and the remainder of the 
enemy's fleet fell back to the Isles de Hyeres, and disembarked their 
troops. The object of the expedition was thus entirely frustrated. 

The campaign in the maritime Alps was opened on the 12th of May, 
by a successful French attack on the Col Dumont, then occupied by two 
thousand Piedmontese troops. Soon after, Kellerman having weakened his 
right by detaching some battalions to Toulon, the Imperialists assumed the 
offensive, and by a series of well-concerted movements forced the French 
to evacuate all their positions in that quarter. But toward the end of 
August, the activity of the Republicans had greatly reonforced their armies 
on the Alpine frontier ; and General Scherer taking command, prepared 
to give battle to the allies, forty thousand strong, near the little seaport 
of Loano. The battle commenced on the 23rd of November ; and at the 
conclusion of the day, the centre of the allies was forced and their left 
wing partly turned. The combat was renewed on the following morning 
and ended in the total defeat of the allies, with a loss of two thousand 
killed, five hundred taken prisoners, and a large quantity of baggage, 
magazines and artillery. This victory, by giving the Frencli the entire 
command of the maritime Alps, closed the campaign in that quarter. 



72 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. X. 

The position of the armies on the northern and eastern frontier remained 
the same as at the close of the preceding campaign, but their condition 
was much changed for the worse. The troops were ill paid, ill fed, and 
in want of all military supplies requisite for a vigorous prosecution of the 
war ; and their discipline was greatly relaxed. The condition of the 
Austrians, on the other hand, was much improved ; but they remained 
in total inactivity on the right bank of the Rhine, and, failing to succor 
the garrison of Luxembourg, that fortress, with ten thousand men and a 
large train of artillery, fell into the hands of the Republicans on the 24th 
of June. The Prince of Conde, on the Upper Rhine, was at the same 
time engaged in a secret negotiation with Pichegru, who was growing 
disaffected toward the Convention : the precise nature of these negotiations 
has never transpired ; but after six months passed in this way, Pichegru 
discontinued it, and prepared to obey the orders of the Convention, by 
commencing the campaign. 

Jourdan, having at length obtained the necessary supplies, prepared tn 
cross the Rhine in the beginning of September. On the 6th of that month, 
he effected the passage at Eichelcamp, Neuwied and Dusseldorf, and 
compelled the garrison of the latter town to capitulate : he then advanced 
toward the Lahn, and established himself on the banks of that river. 
Pichegru, meantime, crossed the Upper Rhine at Manheim, one of the 
principal bulwarks of Germany, and by a spirited demonstration forced 
that city to surrender. This was a great disaster to the Austrians, as it 
opened the way for Jourdan to throw his whole army against Mayence on 
the right bank of the Rhine. But the Austrian commander, Clairfait, 
proved himself equal to the emergency. By a skilful and rapid march 
he turned the left of the French line and forced Jourdan to a disastrous 
retreat, which threw his whole army into confusion. Then, suddenly 
abandoning the pursuit, Clairfait turned upon Mayence and arrived there 
by forced marches before the French besieging army were aware of hi? 
approach. The lines of circumvallation around this city, which the Re- 
publicans had been a whole year in constructing, and the remains of 
which still excite the admiration of travellers, were of immense extent 
and garrisoned by thirty thousand men. The Imperialists advanced to 
the assault in three columns, and the Republicans were so taken by sur- 
prise, that they abandoned the first line almost without firing a shot. The 
panic occasioned to the remainder of the French army by this event was 
such, that the Austrians carried the entire works by storm, and the Repub- 
licans fled in every direction. This brilliant achievement was followed 
by a series of successes on the part of the Austrians, under Clairfait and 
Wurmser, which ended in their driving the French from all their positions 
and recapturing Manheim. A suspension of arms during the winter was 
then agreed on, and both parties retired into winter-quarters. 

This year was distinguished by the unfortunate descent of the English 
and the Royalist emigrants on the coast of France. The obstacles to the 
landing of the troops had been effectually removed by the naval engage- 
ment ofTL'Orient between a British fleet of fourteen ships of the line and 
eight frigates, under Lord Bridport, and a French fleet of twelve ships of 
the line and thirteen frigates, in which the latter were defeated with a 
loss of three ships of the line. The invading army, amounting to about 
ten thousand men, landed in Quiberon Bay on the 27th of June and made 
themselves masters of the fort of Penthievre. Their arrival, together 



1795.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 73 

with their success in capturing this fort, was the signal for all the Roy- 
alists to rise in the west, and the Chouan bands crowded in great numbers 
to the camp of the invaders. The Republican forces, however, were on 
the alert, and Hoche, with a considerable body of disciplined troops, 
advanced to Quiberon. He attacked the Royalist forces on the 7th of 
July, drove them from their intrenchments, and hemmed them in on the 
narrow peninsula where they had first landed. The misery of the men, 
cooped up in a corner of land without tents or lodgings, soon became 
extreme ; and a body of Chouans from the interior, in connection with 
Count Vauban and three thousand men under his command, planned an 
attack against the rear of the Republicans, in the hope of relieving the 
blockade ; while the besieged army sallied from their camp to take the 
enemy in front. The latter attempt was made ; but the troops in the rear 
did not come up, and the emigrants therefore drew on themselves the 
whole Republican strength. The Republicans prevailed in the battle, 
drove the invaders under the guns of the fort, and would have entered it 
with the fugitives, had they not been arrested by the fire of some English 
cruisers in the harbor. They followed up their success by a night attack 
on the fort, which was devised and executed with great skill and bravery, 
and was completely successful : the fort, and a large number of pris- 
oners fell into their hands, a small part only of the whole invading 
force having been able to escape to the British ships. 

Tallien, whom the Convention had sent down to Quiberon Bay as 
commissioner of the government, made an atrocious use of this victory, 
and stained, with ineffaceable disgrace, the glory he had won in his tri- 
umph over Robespierre. In defiance of the verbal capitulation entered 
info between the French general and the emigrant prisoners when the 
latter surrendered, he caused them to be closely confined, and by his 
personal influence with the Convention procured an order for their sum- 
mary execution. Seven hundred and eleven of them, among whom were 
the members of the noblest families in France, were accordingly put to 
death in cold blood. 

The French marine was so broken by various disasters in the Medi- 
terranean and at L'Orient, that nothing more of consequence took place 
at sea for the remainder of the year: though, by means of predatory 
expeditions against the commerce of Great Britain, they inflicted many 
losses on the English merchants. The English availed themselves of 
their maritime supremacy to make themselves masters of the Cape of 
Good Hope, which surrendered to Sir James Craig, on the 16th of Sep- 
tember. 



CHAPTER XI. 

CAMPAIGNS OF 1796. 

Early in March, 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte laid before the Conven- 
tion a plan for a campaign in Italy, which was so remarkable for its 
originality that it attracted the especial notice of Carnot, then minister at 
war. About the same time the youthful officer was married to Jose- 
phine, widow of Alexander Beauharnois, a general of the French army, 
who had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror. The genius 
developed in Napoleon's plan of the campaign, together with the obliga- 
tion conferred by him on the Convention in defending them against the 
last insurrection of the National Guard and the Jeunesse Doree, decided 
the vote of that body in his favor, and lie was invested with the command 
of the army in Italy. 

He found the troops in a miserable condition. The number of men 
was about forty-two thousand, and the artillery amounted to sixty pieces. 
The cavalry were almost without horses, the soldiers of all ranks were 
in great want of tents and magazines, and they had for a long time sub- 
sisted on half rations, collected by themselves in marauding expeditions. 
But, considered with reference to their military qualities, this army was 
the most efficient in the service of the Republic. Its soldiers had seen a 
good share of service, were inured to hardships and privations; and among 
its officers were to be found the names of Massena, Augerau, Serrurier 
and Berthier. 

On the other hand, the allies had more than fifty thousand men in good 
condition, well supplied, and having two hundred pieces of artillery, while 
the Sardinian army, of twenty-four thousand men, guarded the avenues of 
Dauphiny and Savoy. Their forces were thus distributed : Beaulieu, a 
veteran of seventy-five, with thirty thousand Austrians and one hundred 
and fifty pieces of cannon, was on the extreme right of the French, and 
in communication with the English fleet; and Colli, with twenty thousand 
men and sixty guns, was in a line with him to the north, covering Ceva 
and Corri. Generally speaking, the French occupied the crest of the 
mountains, while the allies were stationed in the valleys leading to the 
plains of Italy. 

Napoleon arrived at Nice on the 27th of March, and having ascer- 
tained the relative position of the troops, resolved to penetrate into Pied- 
mont by the Col de Cadibone, the lowest part of the ridge that divides 
France from Italy ; and, by pressing his columns on the line of communi- 
cation, separate the Austrian and Piedmontese armies from each other. 
At the same time, Beaulieu was assuming the offensive and directing his 
columns toward his own left at Genoa. Leaving his right wing at Dego, 
he pushed his centre, under D'Argenteau, to the ridge of Montenotte, and 
himself advanced with the left along the sea-coast. The two armies 
came into contact at Montenotte, and the battle that ensued became cele- 
brated, as being the first one in which Napoleon was ever engaged as 
general -in-chief. The Imperialists, ten thousand strong, first encountered 
a body of only twelve hundred French, under Colonel Rampon, whom 



1796.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 75 

they speedily drove back to the old redoubt of Monte Legino ; but the 
French colonel, perceiving the vital importance of this fort, which if lost 
would expose the whole army to being divided, repulsed the impetuous 
assaults of the Austrians, and made good his stand until nightfall. Du- 
ring the night. Napoleon, with the divisions of Massena and Serrurier 
moved up to the heights in the rear of Montenotte, and in the morning the 
Austrians found themselves surrounded on all sides. They resisted for 
a time the French attacks, but were at length completely routed, with a 
loss of five pieces of cannon, two thousand prisoners, and more than a 
thousand killed and wounded. This victory opened the plains of Pied- 
mont to the French, and completely separated the Austrian and Sar- 
dinian armies. 

Napoleon, occupying now a central position, having received reenforce- 
ments of troops, and improved, by supplies and victory, the condition and 
spirits of his men, resolved to attack both allied armies at the same time. 
A series of actions immediately followed, each small in itself, but import- 
ant as a part of the general result, which by regular progression increased 
the conquests of Napoleon, and drove back his antagonists from their 
positions, until the French army, descending from the sterile summits of 
the Alps, found themselves, though still among the lesser mountains, in 
communication with the rich and fertile plains of Italy. The soldiers, 
animated with success, speedily recovered from their fatigues, the strag- 
glers rejoined their colors, and bands of conscripts from the depots pressed 
forward to share the glories and the spoils of the Italian army ; so that, 
despite their losses, the Republicans were as strong as at the commence- 
ment of the campaign: while the allies, besides having been driven from 
their Alpine barriers, were weakened by the loss of more than twelve 
thousand men and forty pieces of cannon. 

The court of Turin was in the utmost consternation at the advance of 
the French. The ministers of Austria and England urged the king to 
imitate the example of his ancestors, and abandon his capital, leaving the 
fortresses of Tortona, Alexandria and Valentia in the hands of the Aus- 
trians, to give Beaulieu a firm footing on the Po. But the arguments of 
the Cardinal Costa overruled this advice, and persuaded the king to unite 
himself with France. Napoleon, on receiving the advances of the Sar- 
dinian government to this effect, granted an armistice, which was fol- 
lowed by a treaty of peace, wherein the king of Sardinia ceded to the 
Republic, Savoy, Nice, and the whole possessions of Piedmont west of the 
highest ridge of the Alps, including the fortresses of Coni, Ceva and Alex- 
andria, and granted a free passage through his dominions to the French 
troops. 

Having secured his rear by this advantageous treaty. Napoleon lost no 
time in pursuing the discomfited remains of Beaulieu's army, which had 
retired behind the Po, with the intention of covering flie Milanese terri- 
tory. He had inserted and given publicity to a clause in the treaty with 
the king of Sardinia, granting him permission to cross the Po at Valentia. 
and thereby deceived the Austrians as to the place where he really in- 
tended to effect the passage. The attention of Beaulieu having been by 
this artifice drawn to Valentia, the French forces were rapidly moved to 
Placentia, and crossed the river in boats on the 7th of May. Napoleon 
arrived two days afterward with the bulk of his forces, and established a 
bridge. Thus, one great obstacle to the conquest of Lombardy was 



76 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XL 

already removed. Beaulieu was at Pavia, busily engaged in erecting 
fortifications, when he heard of the passage at Plaeentia. He imme- 
diately moved forward with his advanced guard to Tombio, but the French 
drove him back with loss. 

The French troops having now entered the states of Parma, the Grand- 
duke of those domains, possessing no military resources, was forced to 
make peace on such terms as the victor chose to grant. The spoliation 
consisted in part, of a contribution in money, sixteen hundred horses, and 
a large supply of corn and provisions; but on this occasion Napoleon 
commenced another kind of military plunder, unparalleled in modern 
warfare, that of exacting from the vanquished their most precious works 
of art. Parma was compelled to sui*render twenty of its principal paint- 
ings, among which was the celebrated St. Jerome, by Corregio. 

On the 10th of May, Napoleon marched toward Milan, but the Adda 
lay in his way, and it was necessary to cross that stream at the bridge of 
Lodi, which was held by twelve thousand Austrian infantry and four 
thousand cavalry. Napoleon arrived at Lodi at the head of the grena- 
diers of D'Allemagne, on which the Austrians withdrew from the town, 
crossed the river, and posted their infantry with twenty pieces of cannon, 
at the farther extremity of the bridge, to defend the passage. To attempt 
to cross this narrow defile which was thus swept with a constant storm of 
grape shot, seemed little short of madness; yet, such was the enthusiasm 
of the French grenadiers, led on by their dauntless general, they rushed 
forward with an impetuosity that nothing could resist, carried the Aus- 
trian guns, and established themselves on the other side of the river. 

After this disaster, Beaulieu retired behind the Mincio, leaving Milan 
to its fate, where Napoleon made a triumphant entry on the 15th of May. 
The citizens received him as a deliverer ; from every part of Italy the 
young and ardent flocked to Milan to welcome him. A succession of 
balls and festivities gave token of the universal joy; but the illusion was 
of short duration. Italy was destined soon to experience the bitter fate 
of every people who look to foreign aid for their deliverance. In the 
midst of the general joy, a requisition of twenty millions of francs struck 
the Milanese with astonishment, and wounded them in their tenderest 
part — their domestic and economical arrangements. Great requisitions 
of horses and provisions were at the same time made in all the Milanese 
territory. Nor did the Duke of Modena escape more easily: he was 
compelled to purchase peace at the expense often millions of francs and 
twenty paintings from his gallery. Thus, liberated Italy was treated with 
greater severity than usually falls to the lot of a conquered state. The 
rage for republicanism and the work of revolution went on, nevertheless: 
within ten days from the occupation of Milan, national guards, in the 
Republican interest, were organized all over Lombardy, revolutionary 
authorities were everywhere established, and the country rendered sub- 
servient to the military power of France. These changes and exactions 
were not, however, enforced with the unanimous approval of the people 
of Lombardy. The thinking part of the community abhorred them from 
the first, and all soon began to perceive, that in welcoming the French, 
they had bowed to a heavier yoke than the one they formerly bore. 
Roused to indignation by such treatment, an insurrection was organized 
over the whole of that beautiful district, and it first broke out at Pavia, 
where the people rose against the garrison, forced it to capitulate, and 



1796.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 77 

shut their gates against the French troops. Napoleon hurried to the scene 
of tumult with a sufficient force, made his way into the town by assault, 
ordered the magistrates and leaders of the town to be shot, delivered the 
city up to plunder, and cut down great numbers of the people in the 
streets. This terrible example crushed the insurrection, indeed ; but as a 
merciless and unwarrantable massacre, it has left a blot on the character 
of Napoleon. 

The French army now continued its march, and on the 28th of May, 
entered the city of Brescia, situated on the neutral territory of Venice. 
Their arrival threw the Venetian Senate into the greatest perplexity, as it 
compelled the latter to take part with Austria or France, and they knew 
not which to choose. It was evident, from the experience of Lombardy, 
that to side with France was to embrace their own ruin : and to defy that 
power with its armies at her gates, was equally fatal. They therefore 
adopted the most timid course, which in presence of danger is usually the 
most perilous: they made no warlike preparations, and sent commis- 
sioners to the French general to deprecate his hostility. The consequence 
was what might have been anticipated, between such parties in such a 
relation ; the conquering general levied contributions on the Venetian 
territories, and took immediate possession of two important fortresses — 
Porto Legano and Verona. 

Having thus gained the command of the Adige, Napoleon made prepa- 
rations for investing Mantua, the most important fortress in Italy. Serru- 
rier commenced the blockade on the 14th of June, with ten thousand 
men ; and as the siege would necessarily occupy a considerable time, 
Bonaparte had leisure to deliberate on his ulterior measures. He learned 
that Wurmser had been detached from the army of the Upper Rhine with 
thirty thousand men, to reenforce the Austrian army in Italy, and would 
arrive at Verona about the middle of July. Believing that, in the interim, 
he would have time to subdue the central states of Italy and thus secure 
his rear from molestation. Napoleon set out with the division of Augerau 
to cross the Appenines. His expedition was little else than a march of 
triumph. He first entered Modena, where he was received with every 
demonstration of joy ; proceeded thence to Bologna, where the same 
scenes were enacted, and took possession, on his road thither, of the Fort 
of Urbino with its sixty pieces of cannon. He next marched to Ferrara, 
and took its arsenal with one hundred and fourteen pieces of artillery; 
and in the mean time. General Vaubois crossed the Appenines with another 
division, and directed his steps toward Rome. At the intelligence of his 
approach, the council of the Vatican was thrown into the utmost alarm. 
Azara, minister of Spain, was dispatched immediately with offers of 
submission, and arrived at Bologna to lay the tiara at the feet of the 
Republican general. The terms of the armistice were soon agreed on: 
it was stipulated that Bologna and Ferrara should remain in possession 
of the French ; that the Pope should pay twenty millions of francs, furnish 
large contributions of stores and provisions, and give up a hundred of the 
finest works of art to the French commissioners. After concluding this 
important treaty. Napoleon dispatched Murat to Leghorn, where, in open 
violation of all the usages of war, he found and confiscated the effects 
of English merchants to the value of twelve millions of francs. The 
French commander-in-chief then returned to hasten forward the siege 
of Mantua. 



78 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XI. 

Meanwhile, Wurmser was approaching at the head of sixty thousand 
effective troops, which was twice the number that Napoleon, after deduct- 
ing the fift;een thousand before Mantua, and ten thousand occupied in 
maintaining his communications, could bring into the field to oppose him. 
The French troops were thus divided : Sauret, with four thousand five 
hundred was posted at Salo ; Massena, with fifteen thousand, occupied 
Corona and the plateau of Rivoli; Despinois held five thousand in the 
environs of Verona ; and Augerau commanded a reserve of eight thousand 
at Legnago. Napoleon, with two thousand cavalry, took post at Castel- 
nuovo, to be equally near any of the points requiring his assistance. 

On the 29th of July, the Imperialists attacked the French lines at all 
points, and everywhere with success. Massena was driven from his 
intrenchments at Corona, retired to Rivoli, and was glad to escape to 
Castelnuovo: at the same time, the Austrians appeared in force before 
Verona and on the other side of the Lake of Guarda Lusignan, carried 
the town of Sabo, and thus cut off the principal line of retreat toward 
France. 

In this extremity, Napoleon, for the first time during the campaign, 
called a council of war. He heard the opinions of his officers, all of 
whom except Augerau recommended a retreat behind the Po, and in the 
course of the night formed his own resolution. He ordered the siege of 
Mantua to be raised, united the troops investing that place to all the other 
divisions excepting Massena's, and advanced by forced marches to Lonato, 
where he encountered and defeated Quasdonovich ; who, astonished at 
finding himself opposed by an army where he expected to see only a 
rear-guard, fell back toward the mountains, to await intelligence of the 
main body under Wurmser. 

That brave commander, having dislodged Massena from his position, 
advanced to Mantua, where he made a triumphal entry on the 1st of 
August. But on the very night of his arrival, he leai'ned that Quasdon- 
ovich had been checked and Brescia taken. He immediately advanced 
his columns across the Mincio and moved upon Castiglione, while Quas- 
donovich resumed the offensive and retook Salo. Napoleon was now, 
with an inferior force, between the two armies: but his energies rose 
with the emergency. On the 3rd of August, he advanced with twenty- 
five thousand men upon Lonato, carried it by a rapid assault, and while 
the Imperialists were extending themselves toward Salo to open a com- 
munication with Quasdonovich, made a desperate charge on their centre 
and divided their army : one of the Austrian divisions effected its retreat 
to the Mincio, but the other, that was moving toward Salo, was totally 
routed. Meantime, Augerau had been contending with superior numbers 
at Castiglione, and with difficulty maintained his ground ; but now Napo- 
leon arrived with reenforcements and the Austrians gave way, retreating 
toward Mantua, until Wurmser, with fresh troops, came in person to their 
relief. 

As the Austrian veteran was still bent on bringing the contest to a 
close in a pitched battle, both parties were occupied on the ensuing day 
in collecting and organizing their forces. Napoleon had arrived at Lonato 
for that purpose, and after dispatching thence some large bodies of troops, 
he remained for the moment with only twelve hundred men at head- 
quarters. While thus situated, he was suddenly summoned to surrender 
by the commander of four thousand Austrians; who, in the intricate coun- 



1796.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 79 

termarchings of the day had unexpectedly come up. Napoleon caused 
his numerous staff to mount on horseback, and having ordered the officer 
who bore the flag of truce to be brought before him, directed the bandage 
to be taken from his eyes, and told the astonished Austrian that he was in 
the midst of the French army, and in presence of its general-in-chief; 
and that, unless the Austrian troops laid down their arms, they should be 
all put to the sword. The officer, deceived by the splendid cortege, 
returned to his division and I'ecommended them to surrender, which was 
accordingly done on the spot. When they entered the town, they had 
the mortification to discover that they had not only capitulated to one-third 
their own number, but had also missed an opportunity of making prisoner 
the commander-in-chief of the French army. 

On the following day, August 5th, the battle took place at Medola and 
ended in the defeat of the Austrians, who fell back behind the Mincio; 
the French were disabled, by excessive fatigue, from pursuing them. 
Wurmser then leisurely retreated to his former station at Roveredo and in 
the fastnesses of the Tyrol. He had, in his brief expedition, victualled 
Mantua and supplied it with a fresh garrison ; but he had lost nearly 
twenty thousand men and sixty pieces of cannon, and the spirit of his 
soldiers was completely broken by fatigue and disaster. Napoleon, on 
the retreat of the Austrians, resumed the blockade of Mantua. 

After a repose of three weeks, during which the armies on both sides 
received considerable reenforcements, the war began anew. The Aulic 
Council of Vienna, untaught by former disasters of the imprudence of 
forming plans at a distance for the regulation of their armies, again 
framed and transmitted to Wurmser orders for expelling the French 
from the line of the Adige, directing him, as before, to divide his forces 
into two columns, and thus repeating the error that proved so fatal to his 
previous expedition. Napoleon, who occupied a central position, equi- 
distant from both divisions, moved first to Serravale on the Adige against 
Davidowich, whom he forced back into Roveredo in confusion. Davido- 
wich rallied his broken troops in the defile of Galliano, but he was again 
routed with great loss, driven toward Trent, and on the following day, 
September 5th, Napoleon entered that city while the remains of Davido- 
wich 's corps retreated behind the Lavis. 

Wurmser, on receiving intelligence of this defeat, resolved to advance 
by the Val Sugana, sieze Verona, and raise the siege of Mantua. But 
Napoleon, who, by treachery at the Austrian head-quarters, was during 
this whole campaign kept informed of his adversary's plans, and was 
therefore enabled always to take him at advantage, anticipated the move- 
ment; and, by a forced march, placed himself in a position to surprise 
the Austrian rear-guard, which he utterly routed. At the same time, 
the divisions of Massena and Augerau surprised the main body under 
Wurmser, near Bassano, where the Austrians, discouraged by repeated 
defeats, made but a feeble resistance. They were broken at all points, 
and fled into Bassano with a loss of four thousand prisoners, thirty pieces 
of cannon, and almost all their baggage and ammunition. Wurmser now 
pushed on with sixteen thousand men toward Mantua, which he reached 
without further loss: but a number of smaller actions ensued with the 
broken and scattered detachments of the Austrians, in all of which the 
French prevailed. The Austrian army had taken the field, but one 
month before, with fifty thousand men ; they were now reduced to thirty 



80 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chat. XI. 

thousand, of whom sixteen thousand, with Wurmser, were shut up in 
Mantua, where they were of no real service, as the garrison was suffi- 
cient without them and was beginning to suffer for want of provisions. 
The French army had, however, lost during the same time, fifteen thou- 
sand men in killed, wounded and prisoners. 

Still, the Austrian government did not relax their efforts, and by the 
first of November had raised their Italian armies to fifty thousand men. 
Their first movement was against Massena at Bassano, where, under 
General Alvinzi, they were partially defeated; but the French under 
Vaubois, having on the same day attacked the Austrian position on the 
Lavis, was totally defeated by Davidowich and driven to Galliano with a 
loss of four thousand men. Napoleon hastened in person to repair this 
disaster, and attacked the Austrians on the heights of Galdiero; but he 
was bravely repulsed by the Imperialists, and retreated in the night with 
a loss of more than three thousand men, yielding the victory in a pitched 
battle to the Austrians for the first time in the campaign. 

Having thus found that the Austrian position at Galdiero was impreg- 
nable in front. Napoleon resolved to assail it in flank, and accordingly 
made a rapid night march by the village of Areola with his whole force. 
A desperate action ensued at this place which continued through two 
whole days, and in the end both parties withdrew from the field, leaving 
the victory undecided. But on the third day, November 17th, the battle 
was renewed with a more decisive result, and the Austrians were forced 
(o give way. They retreated, however, in good order, and sustained no 
further loss than what occurred in the action. 

The result of the battle of Areola was by no means so decisive as the 
previous victories of the French : the loss on both sides had been nearly 
equal, no important position was gained, nor were the spirits of the 
defeated soldiers broken. Nearly two months of inaction followed, 
which the commanders of both armies occupied in reorganizing their 
forces: and in the mean time, Mantua was reduced to the last extremity 
from famine ; it therefore became indispensable for the Austrians to 
adopt some energetic measure for its relief. Accordingly, on the 12th 
of January, 1797, Alvinzi advanced at the head of thirty-five thousand 
men, attacked the French posts on the Montebaldo, and forced them back 
to the plateau of Rivoli : here, they were reenforced by the whole French 
centre under Napoleon, and again attacked on the 14th. The action was 
contested with great bravery on both sides, but at length the Austrians 
prevailed on all points, and were preparing for a final charge that must 
have ended in the total overthrow of the Republican troops, when Napo- 
leon, with great presence of mind, sent a flag of truce to Alvinzi, proposing 
a suspension of arms for half an hour, as he had some proposal to make 
in consequence of the arrival of a courier from Paris. Alvinzi was simple 
enough to fall into the snare, granted the suspension, and Napoleon gained 
time to rally his troops. This changed the fate of the day. The French 
recovered from their confusion, repelled every subsequent attack, and 
finally repulsed the Austrians with immense loss in prisoners and artil- 
lery. This victory was followed up by an attack on Provera's division 
near fort St. George, on the 16th of January, where the Austrians were 
again defeated and lost six thousand prisoners. 

Mantua, being now deprived of its last hope of relief, was forced to 
capitulate. Wurmser, with all his staff, and five hundred men, was 



1797.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 81 

allowed to return to Austria ; the remainder of the garrison, eighteen 
thousand strong, surrendered their arms, with fifty standards and more 
than five hundred pieces of artillery. 

Napoleon now directed his arms against Rome ; for, during the strife 
on the Adige, the pope had not only refused to ratify the treaty of Bo- 
logna, but had openly engaged in hostile measures against the French. 
The soldiers who had vanquished the strength of Austria were not long 
in crushing the feeble forces of the Church. The pope again submitted, 
and peace was concluded at Tolentino on the 19th of February, on terms 
far more humiliating to the Holy See than the conditions of the previous 
treaty. 

Such was the Italian campaign of 1796. On no former occasion in the 
history of the world, had so great success been achieved in so short a 
time, or so mighty a power been vanquished by forces so inconsiderable. 
An army not exceeding fifty thousand men at any one time, though con- 
stant reenforcements kept it at nearly that strength, had not only broken 
through the barriers of the Alps, subdued Piedmont and Lombardy and 
humbled the whole of the Italian States, but defeated and almost destroyed 
four powerful armies of Austrians, and concluded by a capture of the 
most important fortress in Italy. 

The civil war in La Vendee and Brittany, which had so long disturbed 
the domestic government of France, was brought to a conclusion in the 
early part of the same year. General Hoche, at the head of one hundred 
thousand men, enveloped the disaffected provinces, and by a course 
marked both with vigor and humanity, succeeded in suppressing all the 
revolts, taking possession of the towns, and finally reconciling the people 
to the Republican sway. Charette and Stoffler, the brave and indomi- 
table leaders of the Chouan bands, were by great exertions made prisoners, 
and both perished under the sentence of military commissions — an igno- 
minious and cruel fate for men of such distinguished qualities. 

The condition of England, at the close of the year 1795 and in the 
beginning of 1796, was, in respect of public opinion, nearly as much 
divided as France had been during the Revolution. The continued dis- 
asters of the war, the pressure of new and increasing taxation, the appa- 
rent hopelessness of prolonging the struggle with a military power which 
all the armies of Europe had been unable to subdue, not only gave new 
strength and vigor to the Whig party who had opposed hostilities from the 
first, but induced many original opponents of the revolutionary mania to 
hesitate about a further continuance of the contest. So violent, indeed, 
had party spirit become, and so completely had it usurped the place of 
patriotism and reason, that many of the popular leaders really began to 
wish for the triumph of their enemies : for they saw no hope of carrying 
through a Parliamentary reform, nor of acquiring any addition to the 
democratic power, unless, by the success of the French, the present 
ministry were forced to retire from the government. 

These ill-humors at length broke out into open violence. On one 
occasion, as the king was going to Parliament, the royal carriage was 
surrounded by an immense crowd of turbulent people, who loudly de- 
manded peace and the dismissal of Mr. Pitt. One of the windows was 
broken by a stone, or a bullet from an air-gun ; and on his majesty's 
return, he was again assailed and narrowly escaped the fury of the popu- 
lace. These outrages, however, tended only to strengthen the govern. 



82 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XI 

ment, by demonstrating to all reasonable men, into what excesses the 
populace would speedily run, if they were not restrained by a firm hand, 
and also how narrow a line divided England from the horrors of the 
French Revolution. 

The question on the continuance of the war was warmly debated in 
Parliament, but was at length carried, and the measure provided for by 
liberal supplies. Another measure excited a violent controversy, namely, 
a bill to provide for the additional security of the king's person and the 
prevention of seditious meetings throughout the country. This bill passed 
the House of Commons by the decisive vote of two hundred and fourteen 
to forty-two, and the House of Lords by sixty-six to seven. The opposi- 
tion were so exasperated by the success of the ministers on this occasion, 
that Mr. Fox and a large part of the minority withdrew, for a considerable 
time, from the house. 

Previous to the opening of the campaign, the British government, in 
order to bring the French Directory to the test, authorized their minister, 
Mr. Wickham, to make some advances on the subject of a general peace ; 
but the Directory replied, that they would treat only on condition of 
retaining the Low Countries; a condition to which neither England nor 
Austria could submit. As all hope of peace was thus at an end, the 
allied powers made great preparations for prosecuting the war : and the 
Archduke Charles was appointed to the command of the armies on the 
Rhine. 

The forces of the contending parties here were not greatly dissimilar 
in infantry, but in cavalry, the Imperialists were greatly superior to their 
antagonists. On the Upper Rhine, Moreau commanded seventy-one 
thousand infantry and six thousand five hundred cavalry; while Wurm- 
ser, who was opposed to him, had sixty-two thousand foot and twenty-two 
thousand horse: but, before the campaign was far advanced, thirty thou- 
sand men, as has already been related, were directed under Wurmser to 
reenforce the army of Italy. On the Lower Rhine, the Archduke com- 
manded seventy -one thousand infantry and twenty-one thousand cavalry; 
while the French, under Jourdan, amounted to sixty-three thousand 
infantry and eleven thousand cavalry. Thus, the Austrians were, pre- 
vious to the detachment of Wurmser for Italy, superior in numbers to the 
French ; but the latter had the important advantage of holding much the 
greater number of fortresses on the line. 

The campaign was opened by Kleber. He crossed the river at Dussel- 
dorf, and, being joined by Ney and Soult, defeated the advanced posts of 
the Austrians, who retreated with the loss of fifteen hundred prisoners 
and twelve pieces of cannon. The Archduke moved immediately to the 
assistance of the discomfited corps, with forty-five thousand infantry and 
eighteen thousand cavalry : on which Jourdan, in turn, marched to sup- 
port Kleber, and the two main armies were nearly brought into contact, 
when the French, finding themselves outnumbered and outmanoeuvred, 
were forced to retreat. Moreau, who commanded the army on the Upper 
Rhine, including the divisions of Desaix and St. Cyr, taking advantage 
of the absence of the Archduke, formed a project for crossing the Rhine 
at Strasburg, and seizing the fortress of Kehl, which was negligently 
guarded on the opposite shore. The expedition was planned with great 
dispatch and secrecy, and on the night of the 24th of June, the French 
army moved silently across the river, advanced to the intrenchments of 



1796.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 88 

Kehl, and carried them at the point of the bayonet. From the magnitude 
of this undertaking and the skill with which it was carried out, it ranks 
as one of the most celebrated exploits of that remarkable period. 

Having thus gained a permanent footing on the right bank of the Rhine, 
Moreau, toward the end of June, advanced to the foot of the mountains 
of the Black Forest at the head of seventy-one thousand men. This cele- 
brated chain of mountains is a mass of rocky hills separating the valley 
of the Rhine from that of the Neckar. The French general immediately 
attacked a body of ten thousand Swabian troops at Renchen, occupying 
the entrance of the defiles leading through the mountains : the Swabians 
gave way with considerable loss and retreated before Moreau, who now 
had broken through the centre of the Austrian line, and threatened their 
whole communications. On receiving this alarming intelligence, the 
Archduke hastened by forced marches to arrest the progress of the in- 
vaders, and overtook them on the banks of the Murg, when a partial action 
ensued which, though indecisive, was unfavorable to the Austrians. After 
this slight repulse, the Archduke advanced the Saxons on his left toward 
the French right in the mountains and pushed his centre to Malsch, where 
Moreau attacked him on the 9th of July : a general action took place, but 
still without decisive results, the Austrians merely retaining possession of 
the centre of the field, while their left was driven back. The Archduke 
now had an opportunity to strike a decisive blow by pressing forward to 
the base of Moreau's position, crushing Desaix and surrounding St. Cyr 
in the mountains ; but by so doing he would, at the same time, have ex- 
posed the Austrian dominions to Moreau's advance. He chose the more 
prudent course, and withdrew in the evening to Pforzheim, preparatory to 
marching by the Neckar into the Bavarian plains. 

On the 14th of July, the Imperialists broke up from Pforzheim and 
retired slowly and in good order toward Stutgard and the right bank of 
the Neckar. By so doing, they drew nearer the army of Wartensleben, 
and gamed a central and interior line of communication. On the 25th, 
the Austrian forces were concentrated on the righi bank of the Neckar, 
between Cronstadt and EsslingeTi, where Moreau attacked them on the 
following morning with his whole centre and left wing, but no result fol- 
lowed the action, as both parties remained on the field. The Archduke 
continued his retrograde movement until he reached Neresheim, where, 
having joined his left wing, which had retired through the Black Forest, 
he attacked the position of Moreau, defeated his riglit wing, and would 
have gained an important victory, had all his troops come up in time to 
follow the retreating masses of the French. 

Jourdan, after having remained a few days at Frankfort, and levied a 
heavy contribution on that flourishing city, marched on the great road to 
Wurtzburg, to cooperate with Moreau in an advance into the Empire. 
Wartensleben retired at his approach, and Wurtzburg fell into the hands 
of the French. Wartensleben slowly continued his retreat until the 18th 
of August, when he crossed the Naab, where he awaited a junction with 
the Archduke. That commander arrived on the 20th, and being now 
superior in force to the pursuing army of Jourdan, he resumed the offen- 
sive, attacking the French advanced guard under Bernadotte, on the 22nd, 
whom he drove back with loss into the mountains. He then dispatched 
Hotze with a sufficient force to continue the pursuit of Bernadotte, and 
himself turned upon Jourdan, at Amberg, on the 22nd. The French made 



84 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XI. 

a feeble resistance, and, but for the firmness of Ney, who checked the 
pursuit of the Austrians, would have experienced a terrible defeat. Jour- 
dan's position was now extremely critical ; but after a painful retreat of 
six days, during which Ney continued to protect his rear, he extricated 
himself from the mountains and reached Schweinfurt on the Maine. 
Hotze passed that river on the 1st of September and retook Wurtzburg, 
wtiere he was joined by the Archduke on the 2nd. Jourdan, deeming it 
necessary to gain a i-espite from the Austrian pursuit by a general attack, 
and being ignorant of the Archduke's arrival, assaulted the Austrian lines 
on the 3rd ; but he was so severely handled, that he was glad to escape 
into the forest of Gramchatz without being entirely broken by the imperial 
cavalry. The French continued their retreat toward Lahn, which they 
reached on the 9th in a disorganized state, after suffering immense loss 
in prisoners and artillery. At Lahn they were joined by the blockading 
force from Mayence, fifteen thousand strong, and by ten thousand men 
from the army of the north ; so that their numbers were again equal to 
their pursuers. But the Archduke attacked them at Lahn and afterward 
at Altenkirchen, defeating them in both instances. The French army 
was in such a disordered condition, that they retreated to Bonn and 
Neuweid, and remained in total inactivity for the remainder of the cam- 
paign. 

Moreau was now in a dangerous situation, having advanced into the 
heart of Bavaria, while the Archduke was thus driving Jourdan to ex- 
tremity : the defiles of the Black Forest were in his rear, he was distant 
two hundred miles from the Rhine, threatened by Latour with forty thou- 
sand men on one flank, and by the Archduke and Nawendorf with twenty- 
five thousand on the other. He was, nevertheless, at the head of a superb 
army of seventy thousand men, and no detached columns could prevent 
his retreat. He immediately commenced a retrograde movement, but in 
perfect order ; and when he approached the defiles of the Black Forest, 
he encountered Latour at Biberach, and totally defeated him. He then 
entered the Black Forest, and by a well-concerted and deliberate march, 
safely accomplished a retreat which has ever since been regarded as 
equivalent to a victory. 

The Archduke pursued the retreating army by a different line of march, 
and came up with Moreau at Emmendingen, where a general action took 
place, in which the French were routed with a loss of two thousand men. 
The Imperialists followed up this success, intending to renew the combat 
on the following day ; but Moreau retreated during the night to Schlien- 
gen, a strong position, where he was determined to make a stand and await 
the attack of the Austrians. Here, again, the Archduke was successful ; 
he drove the Republicans from their intrenchments with great loss, and 
was prevented from totally overthrowing them only by the broken char- 
acter of the ground over which they retreated, where his cavalry could 
not act efficiently. 

Moreau, having during the night reached the borders of the Rhine, 
crossed that river on the day following without molestation, and proposed 
an armistice, which the Austrians declined. He then marched into Kehl, 
to which place the Archduke promptly laid siege on the 9th of October. 
The defence was long and obstinate ; but the perseverance and bravery 
of the victorious Austrians, proved at last an overmatch for the garrison : 
after a series of attacks and bombardments, the fortress was, on the 9th 



1796.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 86 

of January, 1797, carried by assault. Henningen was next invested, and 
evacuated by capitulation on the 31st of the same month. 

This event terminated the campaign of 1796 in Germany : a campaign 
the most remarkable that had yet occurred, excepting that of Napoleon 
in Italy. 

In August of this year, the treaty between France and Spain, already 
referred to, was brought to a conclusion. By this treaty, the two powers 
mutually guaranteed to each other their dominions, both in the Old and 
New World, and engaged to assist each other in case of attack, with 
twenty-four thousand land troops, thirty ships of the line, and six frigates. 
This was followed, in the beginning of October, by a formal declaration 
of war on the part of Spain against Great Britain ; so that England, who 
had commenced the war with so many confederates, now saw herself not 
only deprived of her maritime allies, but the whole coast of Europe, from 
Texel to Gibraltar, was arrayed in fierce hostility against her. Impressed 
with the danger of these concurrent circumstances, and desirous, also, of 
silencing the clamor of the party who denounced the war as unnecessary 
and impolitic, Mr. Pitt, at the close of this year, renewed his overtures for 
a general peace. But the liberal terms proposed by Great Britain were 
haughtily rejected, and the negotiations brought to a summary conclusion 
on the 17th of December. 

Ireland, about this period, was in an alarming condition. The success- 
ful issue of the French Revolution, had stimulated a host of reckless 
adventurers to project a similar revolt against the authority of England, 
and more than two hundred thousand men were engaged in a conspiracy 
to overturn the established government. Overlooking the miseries and 
horrors which the convulsions in France had occasioned, and, without 
considering how an insular power was to maintain itself against the naval 
force of England, the disaffected in Ireland rushed blindly into the project. 
They were enrolled under generals, colonels, and other officers in all the 
counties, arms were secretly provided, and nothing was wanting but the 
arrival of the French troops. These preparations, too, were made with 
such secrecy, that the British government had little warning of their dan- 
ger ; while the French Directory, accurately informed of the whole, were 
prepared to turn it to the best account. Hoche, at the head of a hundred 
thousand men, on the shores of La Vendee and Brittany, was ready to 
make the descent ; and an expedition was fitted out at Brest, consisting of 
fifteen ships of the line, to carry each six hundred soldiers, twelve frigates 
and six corvettes, to carry each two hundred and fifty, and transports and 
other vessels to carry, in all, twenty-five thousand. This armament was 
to be joined by seven ships of the line from Rochefort. 

To distract the attention of Great Britain, the most contradictory accounts 
were circulated as to the object of this expedition ; sometimes, it was in- 
tended for the West Indies ; at other times, for Portugal ; but the British 
government soon suspected where the blow was really to fall. Orders 
were transmitted to Ireland to hold the militia in readiness ; a vigilant 
watch was kept on the coast, and all the cattle and provisions ordered to 
the interior counties, on the first appearance of the enemy. The expedi- 
tion set sail on the 15th of December, but it encountered disasters from 
the very moment of its leaving the harbor. A violent tempest arose, and, 
although the mist which accompanied it enabled the French admiral to 
elude the vigilance of the British squadron, one ship of the line struck on 



86 HISTORY OF EUROPE. Chap. XH. 

the rocks at Ushant, and went down, several others were much damaged, 
and the fleet was entirely dispersed. On the 31st of December, Admiral 
Bousset made his way back to Brest, where he was soon followed by the 
scattered divisions of his fleet, after two ships of the line and three frigates 
had been lost : one of the former, by the violence of the tempest, and the 
others by the attacks of the British squadron. 

The close of this year was marked by the death of the Empress Cathe- 
rine, of Russia, and the accession of Paul to the throne. Few sovereigns 
will occupy a more conspicuous place in the page of history, and few have 
left in their conduct on the throne, a more exalted reputation, than the 
Empress Catherine : yet her high qualities as a sovereign were counter- 
balanced by the vices of her private life, and it might, perhaps, be said of 
her, even more truly than of Elizabeth of England, that " if to-day she 
was more than a man, to-morrow she would be less than a woman." 
/ The end of the same year witnessed the resignation of the presidency 
/ of the United States of America by General Washington, and his volun- 
( tary retirement into private life. Modern history has not another character 
/ so spotless to commemorate. Invincible in resolution, firm in conduct, 
/ incorruptible in integrity, he brought to the helm of a victorious Republic 
\ the simplicity and innocence of rural life ; he was foi'ced into greatness 
/ by circumstances, rather than led into it by inclination ; and he prevailed 
i over his enemies rather by the wisdom of his designs, and the perseve- 
i ranee of his character, than by any extraordinary genius in the art of 
\ war. He was the first to recommend a return to pacific councils when 
I the independence of his country was secured, and he bequeathed to his 
I fellow-citizens, on leaving their government, an address to which no com- 
\ position of uninspired wisdom can bear a comparison. He was a Crom- 
i well, without his ambition ; a Sylla, without his crimes ; and after having 
- raised his country to the rank of an independent State, he closed his career 
i by a voluntary relinquishment of the power which a grateful people had 
I bestowed. 



CHAPTER XII. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1797. 

The aspect of affairs in England had never been so clouded since the 
commencement of the war, nor indeed during the whole of the 18th century, 
as at the opening of the year 1797. The negotiations for peace had just 
been unpropitiously terminated, and the national burdens were daily 
increasing under the operations of a war which held out no promise of 
success. Party spirit raged with uncommon violence in every quarter 
of the kingdom ; insurrections prevailed in many districtsof Ireland, dis- 
content and suffering in all ; commercial embarrassment was rapidly 
increasing, and the continued pressure on the Bank, threatened a total 
dissolution of public credit. The consequence of this accumulation of 
disasters was a rapid fall of public securities ; the three per cents sold as 
low as -51, having fallen to that from -98, where they stood at the break- 
ing out of the war. 



1797.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 87 

For a long period, the Bank had experienced a pressure for money, 
owing partly to the demand for gold and silver, which resulted from the 
distresses of commerce, and partly to the great drains on the specie of the 
country, occasioned by the large loans made to the Imperial government. 
As early as January, 1795, the influence of these causes was so severely 
felt, that the Bank directors informed the Chancellor of the Exchequer of 
their wish, that he would so arrange his finances as not to depend on any 
further assistance from them ; and during the whole of that and the follow- 
ing year, the peril of continued advances for the Imperial loans, were 
strongly and earnestly represented to the government. The pressure 
arising from these causes was brought to a crisis at the close of 1796, by 
a run upon the country banks, which arose from the dread of invasion, 
and the anxiety of every man to convert his paper into cash, in the troubled 
times which seemed to be approaching. These banks, as the only means 
of averting bankruptcy, applied from all quarters to the Bank of England; 
the panic extended to the metropolis ; and, such was the run upon that 
institution, it was reduced to payment in sixpences, and stood on the verge 
of insolvency, when an order in council was interposed for its relief, sus- 
pending cash payments until the sense of Parliament could be taken on 
the best means of restoring the circulation, and sustaining the public and 
commercial credit of the country. 

This measure of Mr. Pitt excited a vehement debate in the national 
legislature, and all over the country; but it was approved by both houses 
of Parliament, and a bill passed, providing that the Bank of England 
notes should be received as a legal tender by the collectors of taxes, and 
have the effect of stopping the issue of arrest on mesne process, for pay- 
ment of debt between man and man. The bill was limited in its operation 
to the 24th of June ; but it was afterward renewed from time to time, and 
in November, 1797, extended till the conclusion of a general peace. 
Indeed, the obligation on the Bank to pay in specie was not imposed until 
the act of Mr. Peel, in 1819. Such was the commencement of the paper 
system in Great Britain, which ultimately produced such astonishing 
effects ; which enabled the government, for so long a period, to carry on 
so costly a war, and to maintain for years armaments greater than had 
been raised by the Roman Empire, in the zenith of her power. 

The supplies voted by Parliament for the year 1797, were on a scale 
commensurate to the emergency. The land forces were raised to one 
hundred and ninety-five thousand, of whom sixty-one thousand were in 
the British Islands, and the remainder in the colonial dependencies of the 
empire. The ships in commission were one hundred and twenty-four of 
the line, eighteen of fifty guns, one hundred and eighty frigates, and one 
hundred and eighty-four sloops. This great force, however, being scat- 
tered over the whole globe, could not assemble on any one point a fleet 
which, numerically, was equal to those that her allied antagonists could 
bring against her. It was at this time that the famous mutiny in the fleet 
took place. 

A feeling of discontent had for a long time prevailed in the navy, without 
having attracted the serious attention of the government. It was in part 
brought to a crisis by the insubordinate spirit of the times, but it had its 
origin in a variety of grievances, which had grown up with the naval 
system of England. The prevalence of these discontents was made 
known to Lord Howe and the Lords of the Admiralty, by a variety of 



88 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XII. 

anonymous communications, but when inquiry was made of the captains 
of the individual ships, they all denied the existence of any mutinous 
disposition among the men. Meanwhile, however, a vast conspiracy, 
unknown to them, was already organized ; and it was brought to maturity 
on the return to port of the Channel fleet, in the beginning of April ; when, 
on making the signal, on board the Queen Charlotte, to weigh anchor, the 
crew, instead of obeying, gave three cheers, which were returned by 
every vessel in the fleet, and immediately the red flag of mutiny was run 
up to each mast head. The officers strove in vain to exert their authority ; 
yet the mutineers, though refusing absolutely all obedience, resorted to no 
overt act of violence and bloodshed. They drew up a remonstrance, 
stating their grievances, and forwarded it in duplicate to the Admiralty 
and the house of Commons. The Board of Admiralty was at once trans- 
ferred to Portsmouth ; the demands of the seamen, having been found, for 
the most part, equitable, were acceded to; and Lord Howe at length 
persuaded the men to return to their duty, after promising them entire 
amnesty for the past. Order being thus happily restored, the fleet, consist- 
ing of twenty-one ships of the line, put to sea, and resumed the blockade 
of the harbor of Brest. ^ 

Hardly was this commotion at an end, however, when a still more 
serious mutiny broke out in Lord Duncan's squadron at the Nore, which 
extended to every vessel in the fleet excepting his lordship's own line-of- 
battle ship and two frigates. A man named Parker was at the head of 
this mutiny, and the demands he made related in part to the distribution 
of prize money, which had been overlooked by the other mutineers ; but 
he went to such extravagant lengths in other respects, and couched his 
demands in such a menacing strain, that the government could not pos- 
sibly entertain his petitions. Fortunately for Great Britain and for the 
cause of freedom throughout the world, a monarch was on the throne 
whose firmness no danger could shake, and a minister was at the helm 
whose capacity was equal to any emergency. They denied the petition 
peremptorily, and adopted the most energetic measures to sustain their 
authority. All the buoys in the mouth of the Thames were removed ; 
Sheerness, which was threatened by the insurgents, was garrisoned with 
four thousand men ; red-hot balls were kept in constant readiness ; Til- 
bury fort was armed with one hundred pieces of heavy cannon ; and a 
chain of gun-boats was sunk to debar all access to the harbor. These 
measures were nobly responded to by Parliament, almost every one of 
the opposition following the lead of Mr. Sheridan, and throwing himself 
into the breach with the ministry. An act was promptly passed by both 
houses forbidding all communication with the sailors in mutiny, under 
penalty of death, and imposing a like penalty on any one who should 
attempt to seduce either soldiers or sailors from their allegiance. A nego- 
tiation was then entered into by the Admiralty, which was protracted from 
day to day, until by degrees the sailors became sensible of the desperate 
character of their enterprise, and man by man, and crew by crew, with- 
drew from their perilous compact, slipped the cables, one after another, 
of their respective ships, and took refuge under the cannon of Sheerness; 
until at length, on the 15th of June, twenty-four days after the mutiny 
began, every vessel was placed under the control of the government. 
Parker, the leader of the mutiny, and several of his more prominent 
associates were executed ; but the greater part under sentence of death, 
were pardoned by royal proclamation. 



\ 



1797.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 89 

But, whatever may have been the internal dissensions of the British 
navy, its external operations were fraught with terror to its enemies. 
Early in February, the Spanish fleet of twenty-seven ships of the line 
and twelve frigates set sail for Brest, with a view of raising the blockade 
of that liarbor, forming a junction with the Dutch fleet, and sweeping the 
British squadron from the Channel. Admiral Jarvis, who was stationed 
off* the coast of Portugal with fifteen ships of the line and six frigates, 
immediately made sail in pursuit, and encountered the enemy off" Cape 
St. Vincent. 

Tlie British admiral pushed boldly through the centre of the hostile 
fleet, doubled with his whole force on nine of the Spanish ships, and by 
a vigorous cannonade drove them to leeward, so as to prevent their taking 
any part in the engagement which followed. As soon as the Spanish 
admiral saw the effect of this manoeuvre, which at a blow reduced the 
number of his effective ships so nearly to an equality with the British 
squadron, he wore around and endeavored to bring the remainder of his 
fleet into communication with this repulsed detachment ; but Commodore 
Nelson, who was in the sternmost ship of the British line, disregarded his 
orders for the day, stood across the bows of the Spanish admiral's vessel, 
and ran his own ship between two of the enemy's three-deckers — the 
Santissima Trinidada, of one hundred and thirty -six guns, and the San 
Josef, of one hundred and twelve. The former of these two soon struck to 
Nelson's tremendous broadsides. Captains Collingwood and Trowbridge 
immediately followed the example of Nelson, engaged, indifferently, one 
or two at a time of the Spanish three-deckers, though their own vessels 
were but seventy-fours, and soon gave the Spanish admiral abundant 
occupation with the affairs of the main body of his fleet. The action 
now became general, and was continued through the remainder of the 
day, at the close of which the Spaniards retreated into Cadiz, leaving two 
three-deckers and two seventy-fours in the hands of the British. Two 
other ships had hauled down their colors in the action, but not being taken 
possession of in season by their captors, they made good their escape with 
the remainder of the fleet. 

In the beginning of October, the Dutch fleet, taking advantage of the 
absence of the British blockading squadron, which had been driven to 
Yarmouth Roads by stress of weather, sailed from the Texel for Brest. 
It consisted of fifteen ships of the line and eleven frigates under the com- 
mand of De Winter. As soon as Admiral Duncan was apprised by his 
cruisers that the Dutch fleet was at sea, he weighed anchor with all haste, 
and neared the hostile squadron before it was out of sight of the shore of 
Holland. Duncan's fleet comprised sixteen ships of the line and three 
frigates. His first care was to place his ships in such a position as to 
cut off the enemy from returning to the Texel ; after which he bore down 
upon them and found them drawn up in order of battle about nine miles 
off the coast, between Camperdown and Egmont. He commenced the 
attack by breaking the enemy's line and running between them and the 
shore, which prevented the Dutch vessels from withdrawing into the shal- 
lows out of reach of the British fire — for the Dutch ships were of lighter 
draught than the English. The action was continued with great spirit 
for some hours, yard-arm to yard-arm, and in the event twelve ships of 
the line struck to the British fleet ; but, owing to the gale, some of them 
Were not secured in time and made their escape : and of those that were 



90 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XII. 

secured, two were retaken by their crews on the homeward passage, and 
one was so disabled that she went to the bottom ; but eight line-of-battle 
ships and two of fifty-six guns were brought safely into Yarmouth Roads. 
These two victories filled all Europe with astonishment: the first, by 
the proof it afforded of the decided superiority of British seamanship, the 
English fleet having defeated twice their own number of Spanish vessels; 
and the second, by the unexampled proportion of the enemy's ships that 
were captured. Rut the effects on the domestic security and public spirit 
of Gi-eat Britain, were far more important. Despondency was felt no 
longer. Bonfires and illuminations were universal ; enthusiasm spread 
to every breast, and amid the roar of artillery and the festive light of 
cities, faction disappeared and opposition simk into neglect. From these 
victories may be dated that concord among all classes and that resolute 
British spirit which never afterward deserted the country. 

The illustrious statesman, to whose genius and foresight the first devel- 
opment of the spirit that led to these consequences is, under Providence, 
to be ascribed, was in part permitted to witness the result of his labors in 
the cause of freedom. Mr. Burke, whose health had been broken by the 
death of his son, and who had long labored under severe and increasing 
weakness, breathed his last at his country-seat of Beaconsfield, on the 9th 
of .Inly, 1797. His counsels on English politics, during his last hours, 
were of the same direct, lofty and uncompromising spirit, which had ever 
made his voice sound like the note of a trumpet to the heart of England. 
•'Never succumb," said he, to his surrounding friends. "It is a struggle 
for your existence as a nation. If you must die, die with the sword in 
your hand. But 1 have no fears whatever for the result. There is a 
salient living principle in the public mind of England, which requires 
only a proper direction to enable her to withstand this or any other fero- 
cious foe. Persevere, therefore, till this tyranny be overpast." 

The prospects of the allied forces for the campaign of 1797, were over- 
clouded by the death of the Empress Catherine, inasmuch as her succes- 
sor, the Emperor Paul, refused to carry out her projects and sustain her 
policy in regard to the war against France: the burden of the contest, 
therefore, rested on Austria and Great Britain alone. 

The relative position of the belligerent parties at the close of 1796, ren- 
dered it apparent that the Alpine frontier would be the most assailable 
point of the Austrian dominions on the opening of the next campaign. The 
French Directory, therefore, though they had grown too jealous of Napo- 
leon's abilities and rising fame to intrust him with all the force he soli- 
cited, sent him a detachment of twenty thousand choice troops under 
Bernadotte and Delmas, which raised the army of Italy to sixty-one 
thousand men, independent of sixteen thousand who were scattered from 
Ancona to Milan, and occupied in overawing the states in the rear, and 
protecting the communications of the army. The Austrians were equally 
aware of the exposed situation of their southern frontier, and ordered 
large reenforcements of troops to that quarter ; but they were dilatory in 
their movements, and the most efficient part of the army did not arrive 
until it was too late for them to be of any service in the issue of the 
campaign. 

Napoleon commenced his operations on the 10th of March, by a forward 
movement, directing his march toward the position of the Archduke, 
whose army, lliirty-five thousand strong, was drawn up on the left bank 



1797.] HISTORY OF EUROPE 91 

of the Tagliamento. This stream, after descending from the mountains, 
separates into several fordable bi-anches, and covers the ground for a 
great extent between them with stones and gravel. The Austrians were 
in order of battle when the French arrived on the opposite bank of the 
river ; and Napoleon, seeing them so well prepared to oppose his passage, 
had recourse to a stratagem. He ordered his troops to retire out of the 
reach of the Austrian artillery, establish a bivouac, and begin to cook 
their food : when the Archduke, supposing the French had abandoned the 
intention of an attack for the day, withdrew his forces into their camp in 
the rear. When all was quiet, the signal was given by the French 
general : the soldiers ran to arms, formed with great rapidity, advanced 
in columns by echellon, flanking each other in fine order, and precipi- 
tated themselves into the river. The precision and beauty of the move- 
ment resembled the exercise of a field-day. The Austrian cavalry hast- 
ened to the spot, and charged the French infantry on the edge of the water, 
but it was too late. The French had gained their position, and kept 
it. The firing soon became general along the line ; and the Archduke, 
seeing the passage achieved and his flank turned, and being, besides, un- 
willing to engage in a decisive action before the arrival of his veterans 
from the Rhine, ordered a retreat. The French light troops pursued him 
for four miles; during which time, the Imperialists lost six pieces of 
cannon and five hundred men, and also, what was of more importance, 
they lost the moral effect of a first success. 

Meanwhile, Massena had effected a passage at St. Daniel and made 
himself master of Osopo, by which means he cut off the Archduke's 
retreat by the direct road to Carinthia : the latter therefore determined to 
regain it by the cross-road which followed the Isonzo, as Napoleon would 
probably choose the Carinthian road to advance on Vienna. For this 
purpose, he dispatched his parks of artillery, and the division of Bayalitch 
by the Isonzo toward Tarwis, while the remainder of his forces retired by 
the Lower Isonzo. Napoleon now pushed forward to Gradisca, situated 
on the Lower Isonzo, and garrisoned by three thousand men. Bernadotte 
first assailed this place, but he was repulsed with a loss of five hundred 
men ; Serrurier, however, soon appeared on the heights in the rear, when 
the garrison was forced to surrender with ten pieces of artillery. Berna- 
dotte next moved upon Laybach, and took possession of it, while a thou- 
sand horse occupied Trieste, the greatest harbor of the Austrian dominions. 
Massena followed up his success at Osopo, by taking Col-de-Tarwis, the 
crest of the Alps, which commands the two valleys descending to Carin- 
thia and Dalmatia. The Archduke made a great effort to retake this 
important post, but after a desperate and bloody action on its snowy 
heights, he was at last forced to leave it in the hands of the French. 
When Napoleon found himself securely in possession of this post, he 
pressed forward and gained the defiles in advance of Bayalitch; who^ 
now finding himself involved in these rocky passes, and completely 
surrounded by superior forces, was obliged to surrender himself and his 
whole division prisoners, with all his artillery and baggage. The French 
troops had now passed the Alps, established themselves in the fertile 
plains that stretch beyond them into Germany, and were encamped within 
sixty leagues of Vienna, with an army of forty-five thousand men. 

But, though Napoleon had thus far conducted the campaign triumph- 
antly, he began now to be embarrased by his success. The Venetian 



92 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap.XII. 

provinces, taking advantage of his absence, were preparing to revolt, 
and threatened his communications in the rear; he had just received a 
dispatch from Moreau, announcing his inability to support him in his 
contemplated advance on the Austrian capital ; and the Directory were 
too jealous of his success to forward any further assistance. Hence, as 
his army was too small in numbers to warrant his marching unassisted 
into the heart of the Austrian dominions, he resolved to make proposals 
of peace to the Archduke, taking care, at the same time, to press vigor- 
ously on the retreating Imperialists, in order to support his negotiations. 
The latter part of his policy was maintained with such energy that, on 
the 6th of April, he had driven everything before him as far as Judem- 
berg, his advanced guard occupied Leoben, and the terror he inspired in 
the capital was so great that the several members of the Emperor's family, 
together with the archives of the nation, were sent into Hungary. On 
the 7th of April, the chief of the Archduke's staff, Bellegarde, presented 
himself at the outposts of the French army, and a suspension of hostilities 
was agreed on at Leoben for five days. 

On the 9th of April, the treaty was concluded at Judemberg ; and as 
the French commissioners had not arrived. Napoleon signed it in his 
own name on behalf of the French government. Its principal articles 
were, 1. The cession of Flanders to the Republic, and the extension of 
its frontier to the Rhine. 2. The cession of Savoy to the same power, 
and the extension of its territory to the summit of the Piedmontese Alps. 
3. The establishment of the Cis-Alpine Republic, including Lombardy, 
the states of Modena, Cremona and the Bergamasque. 4. The Oglio was 
fixed on as the boundary of the Austrian possessions in Italy. 5. The 
Emperor, in return for so many sacrifices, was to receive the whole con- 
tinental states of Venice, including Illyria, Istria, Friuli, and Upper Italy 
as far as the Oglio. 6. Venice was to obtain, in return for these losses, 
Romagna, Ferrara and Bologna, wrested by the French from the pope. 
7. The important fortresses of Mantua, Peschiera, Porto Legnago, and 
Palma Nuovo were to be restored to the Emperor on the conclusion of a 
general peace, together with the city and castles of Verona. 

This iniquitous partition of the neutral territories of Venice was an act 
of darker atrocity than the spoliation of Poland, and it failed to excite an 
equal degree of general indignation, only because it was accompanied 
by no heroism or dignity on the part of the vanquished. 

Venice exhibits one of the most curious and instructive instances in 
modern history, of the decline of a state without any rude external shock, 
from the mere force of internal corruption, and the long-continued direc- 
tion of the passions to selfish objects. The League of Cambray had, 
indeed, shaken its power; the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope had led 
to an abridgment of its resources ; and the augmentation of the strength 
of the Trans-Alpine monarchies, had diminished its relative importance: 
but still, its wealth and population were such as to entitle it to a respect- 
able rank among the European states, and, if directed by energy and 
courage, would have given it a preponderating weight in the issue of this 
campaign. But centuries of peace had destroyed the courage of the 
higher orders ; ages of corruption had extinguished the patriotism of the 
people ; and the continued pursuits of selfish gratification, had rendered 
all classes incapable of the sacrifices which the defence of their country 
required. The arsenals were empty; the fortifications decayed; the 



1797.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 93 

fleet, which once ruled the Adriatic, was rotting in the Lagunse; and the 
army, which formerly faced the banded strength of Europe in the League 
of Cambray, was now drawn entirely from the semi-barbarous provinces 
on the Turkish frontier. With such a population, nothing grand or 
generous could be attempted ; yet it was hardly to be expected that the 
country of Dandolo and Carmaguolo should yield without a struggle. 

The proximity of the Venetian continental provinces to those which had 
recently been revolutionized by the Republican arms, and the sojourn- 
ing of the French troops among the ardent youth of their principal 
cities, naturally and inevitably led to the rapid propagation of democratic 
principles among the inhabitants. This took place more particularly 
after the victories of Rivoli and the fall of Mantua had dispelled all 
dread of the return of the Austrian forces. Revolutionary clubs and 
committees were everywhere formed, who corresponded with the Repub- 
lican authorities of Milan, and openly expressed a wish to throw off the 
yoke of the Venetian oligarchy. These proceedings were secretly 
encouraged by Napoleon, who directed Captain Landrieux, chief of the 
cavalry-staff, to communicate with the malcontents, and give unity and 
effect to their operations. At the same time, to preserve the outward 
appearance of neutrality, he ordered General Kelmaine to forbid his 
officers and soldiers from counselling or assisting the disaffected. 

The result of these measures was soon apparent. On the 12th of 
March, a revolt broke out at Bergamo, and the insurgents, avowing that 
they were supported by the French, dispatched couriers to Milan and 
other towns of Lombardy, and besought the Republican commander of 
the castle to assist them with his troops, which, however, he declined to 
do. The example of Bergamo was soon followed by all the chief towns 
in the Venetian provinces. 

These revolts excited the utmost alarm at Venice. The Senate dared 
not act openly against the insurgents, who declared themselves supported 
by the Republican commanders, but they dispatched Pesaro to Napoleon's 
head-quarters to complain of his officers. Napoleon feigned surprise at 
the intelligence thus communicated, though he positively declined to 
interfere in the matter ; and at the same time, threatened Venice with 
vengeance if she proceeded to hostilities. In this extremity, the Venetian 
government knew not what course to pursue ; but while they were delib- 
erating, a counter revolution broke out in the provinces without their 
knowledge or authority, and several partial actions ensued between the 
two parties. Napoleon promptly availed himself of this as a ground of 
complaint, and sent an insolent letter to the Senate, demanding satisfac- 
tion for the revolt, in which some of his own troops had suffered. While 
this demand was under discussion, an event took place on the Adige 
which gave the French general too fair a pretext for breaking off all 
negotiation. A levy en masse of the Venetian peasantry had assembled 
at Verona, on the 17th of April, and put to death in cold blood four hun- 
dred wounded men in the French hospitals. General Ballaud, in com- 
mand of the forts, resented this atrocious cruelty by firing on the city 
with red-hot balls. An extensive conflagration ensued, when the inhab- 
itants, exasperated in turn, laid siege to the forts, and put to death the 
French garrison of one of them which capitulated. 

These excesses were speedily retaliated on the Venetians by the 
French troops. General Chabran approached Verona with his columns^ 



94 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XII. 

shot the authors of the massacre, and levied a contribution on the city of 
eleven hundred thousand francs, on the 28th of April ; and on the 3rd of 
Mav, Napoleon declared war against Venice. 

Meanwhile, Venice itself was a prey to faction, and in the last state of 
perplexity and distress. The senators met at the Doge's palace, and 
endeavored by concessions and promises, to arouse the patriotism of the 
people ; but the revolutionary party, which was in the ascendant, refused 
all compromise, and forced the Senate to abdicate its authority. At this 
result, the shouts of the giddy multitude rent the sky, the tree of Liberty 
was planted on the Place of St. Mark, and the democrats entered, amid 
bloodshed and plunder, upon the exercise of their newborn sovereignty. 
A momentary reaction here took place, and a body of real patriots strove 
to resist the revolution: they were soon overpowered, however, by the 
revolutionists, who called in the French troops to their aid, and brought 
them in boats to the Place of St. Mark, where a foreign standard had not 
been seen for fifteen hundred years, but where the banner of freedom 
was never again to wave. 

The French troops were not long in securing to themselves the spoils 
of their revolutionary allies. The Golden Book, the record of the sena- 
tors of Venice, was burned at the foot of the tree of Liberty ; and while 
the democrats were exulting over the destruction of this emblem of their 
ancient subjection, their allies were depriving them of the means of future 
independence. The treasures of the Republic were seized by the French, 
as were also the remnants of the navy ; though neither the one nor the 
other equalled in value what the captors anticipated. The revolutionary 
party discovered, when it was too late, the consequences of their conduct, 
and reaped the bitter fruits of their Republican alliance in a forced sub- 
jection to a foreign despotism, in the support of foreign troops, and in the 
spoliation of all the proud mementoes which decorated their capital. 

While these memorable events were taking place on the southern side 
of the Alps, the French armies on the Rhine, under Moreau, Desaix, 
Davoust and Hoche, were rapidly recovering their losses of the last cam- 
paign ; and Moreau had added greatly to his military fame by a brilliant 
passage of the Rhine at Diersheim, in presence and in spite of an Austrian 
army on the opposite bank : but these generals were prevented from taking 
advantage of the success with which they commenced the campaign, by 
the treaty of peace concluded with Napoleon. 

Prussia, during this eventful year, adhered steadily to the system of 
armed neutrality. The health of her king had long been visibly declin- 
ing, and he at length expired at Berlin on the 16th of November. Though 
endowed neither with shining civil nor remarkable military talents, few 
monarchs have conferred greater benefits on their country than this sove- 
reign. He was succeeded by his son, Frederic William IIL, then twenty- 
seven years of age ; a man much better calculated than his father to take 
part in the stirring events which were so soon to agitate the continent of 
Europe. 

The progress of revolutionary principles in Italy began about this time 
to affect the people of Genoa. The government there was vested in an 
aristocracy which, although less jealous and exclusive than that of Venice, 
was far more resolute and determined. A treaty had been concluded 
with the French Directory, by which Genoa purchased its neutrality with 
the payment of two millions of francs, a loan of two millions more, and 



1797.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 95 

the recall of families exiled for their political opinions. But the vehe- 
mence of the revolutionary club now insisted on far greater domestic 
concessions ; and as they were secretly encouraged by Napoleon, they 
•soon rose in arms to enforce their demands. The patrician families, 
however, were not wanting in courage or ability : by a bold and skilful 
movement they completely crushed the insurrection, and, but for subse- 
quent foreign interference, would have maintained their government. It 
was not, however, consistent with the system of Republican ambition to 
allow a revolutionary party to be subdued in any country which the arms 
of France could reach. In the contest between the government and the 
insurgents, some Frenchmen who had taken an active part in the revolt 
were wounded and taken prisoners with the rest ; and Napoleon made 
this a pretext for throwing the weight of his authority into the democratic 
scale. It was vain for the government of Genoa to resist the power of 
France, however arbitrarily and unjustly applied : and the Genoese Senate 
of necessity submitted to a new Constitution, which placed the government 
in the hands of the democracy. The people in some sections made a 
brave resistance to this tyrannical imposition ; but this led only to new 
exactions on the part of the Frencii, and thenceforward Genoa, having 
lost even the shadow of her independence, became a mere outwork of the 
French Republic. 

Meanwhile, Napoleon, sheathing for a time his victorious sword, estab- 
lished himself at the chateau of Montebello, near Milan ; a beautiful 
summer residence, overlooking a great part of the plain of Lombardy. 
Negotiations for a final peace were there immediately commenced ; before 
the end of May the powers of the plenipotentiaries had been verified, and the 
work of treaties was in progress. The future Emperor of the West here 
held his court in more than regal splendor ; the ambassadors of the Em- 
peror of Germany, of the Pope, of Genoa, Venice, Naples, Piedmont and 
the Swiss Republic assembled to examine the claims of the several states 
which were the subject of discussion ; and here weightier matters were 
to be determined, and dearer interests were at stake, than had ever before 
been submitted to European diplomacy since the iron crown was placed 
on the brow of Charlemagne. Already, Napoleon acted the part of a 
sovereign prince ; his power exceeded that of any then living monarch; 
and he had entered on that dazzling career which ended in the subjuga- 
tion of the world. The negotiations at Montebello were brought to a 
conclusion on the 17th of October, and the treaty of Campo Formio was 
the result. The articles of this treaty did not essentially differ from those 
agreed on between Napoleon and Austria at Judemberg, save that Mantua 
and Mayence were ceded to France. The treaty, however, contained 
some secret articles of importance, the most material of which regarded 
the cession of Salzburg to Austria, with Inviertil and Wasseburg on the 
Inn, from Bavaria ; the free navigation of the Rhine and the Meuse ; the 
abandonment of Frickthal by Austria to Switzerland ; and the providing 
of equivalents on the right bank of the Rhine, to the princes dispossessed 
on the left bank of that river. But it was expressly provided, tliat " no 
acquisition should be proposed to the advantage of Prussia." 

While the foreign relations of France were thus distinguished by tri- 
umph and conquest, her domestic government was in a state of turmoil 
and distress. National bankruptcy, with its thousand evils, had been 
publicly declared, and the general distress and ruin that ensued were 



96 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XII. 

beyond estimation. Political events, too, of vast importance were at hand. 
The election of May, 1797 — when by the Constitution one-third of each 
house was changed — produced an entire alteration in the balance of par- 
ties, a decided majority of Royalists having come into power. The mul- 
titude, ever ready to follow the victorious party, ranged themselves on 
the Royalist side, and a hundred newspapers thundered forth their decla- 
rations in the same cause. Pichegru was appointed president of the 
Council of Five hundred, and Barbe Marbois, also a Royalist, president 
of the Council of Ancients. Almost all the ministers were changed ; and 
the Directory was openly divided into two parties, the majority consisting 
of Rewbell, Barras and Lareveillere ; the minority, of Barthelemy and 
Carnot. The chief strength of the Royalist party, out of the Assembly, 
lay in the Club of Clichy ; that of the Jacobins, in the Club of Salm ; 
and the opposite factions soon grew so exasperated, that they mutually 
aimed at supplanting each other by means of a revolution. 

Before long, the legislative acts of the Councils, and the declarations 
of the Royalists in the tribune, in the Club of Clichy and in the public 
journals, awakened great anxiety among the Jacobins ; and the majority 
of the Directors became alarmed for their own official existence, as it 
was evident that the Councils would totally ruin the Republican party. 
It had already been ascertained that one hundred and ninety of the depu- 
ties were engaged to restore the exiled family, while the Directory could 
count on the support of only one hundred and thirty ; and the Ancients 
had resolved, by a large majority, to transfer the seat of the legislature 
to Rouen, on account of its proximity to the western provinces, where 
Royalist principles had always been decidedly maintained. In short, 
the Directory were aware that, for regicides, the transition was easy from 
the Luxembourg to the scaffold. 

In this extremity, Barras, Rewbell and Lareveillere resolved on de- 
cisive measures. They knew that they could count on the support of the 
army, and therefore drew toward Paris a number of regiments, twelve 
thousand strong. They next changed the ministry, appointing Francois 
de Neufchateau to the department of the Interior ; Hoche, to that of War ; 
Larouche, to that of the Police ; and Talleyrand, to that of Foreign Af- 
fairs. The sagacity of this last politician led him to incline, in all the 
changes of the Revolution, to what was about to prove the victorious side ; 
and his accepting office under the Directory at this crisis was strongly 
symptomatic of the chances that were accumulated in their favor. Na- 
poleon, too, resolved to support the Directory, and sent his aid-de-camp, 
Lavalette, to Paris, to observe the motions of the parties and communicate 
to him the earliest intelligence ; and he afterward dispatched Augereau 
to support the Directory in their arrangements with the army. He de- 
clined going himself to the capital, until circumstances might render his 
presence there indispensable. 

The party against which these formidable preparations were directed 
was strong in numbers and powerful in eloquence, but destitute of the 
reckless hardihood and vigor which in civil convulsions usually command 
success. The military force immediately under their command was small, 
consisting of only fifteen hundred grenadiers of questionable loyalty: and 
in debating on the course proper to be pursued in the emergency, the 
majority of the Royalists were restrained by scruples of conscience— as 
the friends of freedom and good order often are in a revolutionary crisis 
—from taking the lead in acts of violence. 



1797.] H I S T O R Y F E U R O P E . 97 

The Directory, however, entertained no such scruples. They appointed 
Augereau to the command of their troops, ordered them into Paris, and 
on the 3rd of September, at midnifrht, the inhabitants observed twelve 
tliousand armed men defiling over the bridges, with forty pieces of can- 
non, and gradually occupying all the avenues to the Tuileries. Not a 
sound was heard but the measured tramp of the men, and the rolling of 
the artillery wheels, until the movement was completed ; when a signal 
gun was discharged that startled every one who heard it. The soldiers 
speedily surrounded the Hall of the Councils, where Augereau arrested 
Pichegru, Willot, and twelve other leaders of the assemblies, and con- 
ducted them to the Temple. By six o'clock in the morning, all was 
concluded. Several hundreds of the most powerful Royalists were in 
prison, the streets were filled with troops, and military despotism v/as 
established. 

It may be presumed, that power thus obtained was not delicately used. 
Pichegru, and some fifty other members of the Councils, were condemned 
to transportation; all the acts passed by the Royalist majority were 
annulled, and the liberty of the press was destroyed. The Directory 
carried on the government thereafter by military power alone ; three 
men took upon themselves to govern France on their own account, with- 
out either the sanction of law or the concourse of legal assemblies. 



CHAPTER XIII 



EXPEDITION TO EGYPT. 



On the conclusion of the peace of Campo Formio, Napoleop returned 
to Paris, where he was received with enthusiastic admiration by all 
classes of tlie inhabitants. He lived, however, in the most retired man- 
ner, seldom appeared in public, Avore the costume of the Institute, and 
avoided society excepting that of scientific men. But this manner of life 
was pursued only with a view to political efl^ect. 

After a time, he grew restless under inaction ; and the Directory 
became alarmed at his popularity, indulging a well-grounded fear, that 
in these days of changes and revolutions, he might successfully contend 
with them for the possession of the government. Napoleon, therefore, 
soon resolved upon some new military exploit, and the Directory, anxious 
to be relieved from his presence, eagerly forwarded his views. A de- 
scent upon England was the first project, and it was the one most accept- 
able to the Directors; but Napoleon, after a careful examination, decided 
against that, and resolved on an expedition to Egypt. The Directors, 
whose anxiety to employ him abroad overpowered every other consid- 
eration, reluctantly consented, and preparations to an extent commen- 
surate with the undertaking, were immediately set on foot. In the 
mean time, however, to anticipate the movements of the British navy, and 
prevent any interruption from that quarter in the Mediterranean, the 
descent upon England was made the ostensible object of the armament, 
and the public journals were filled with speculations on the results of the 
anticipated conquest. 

D 



98 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XIII. 

The British government, aware of the great preparations which were 
making over all France, yet doubtful where the blow was really to fall, 
made every arrangement which prudence could suggest to avert the 
impending danger. The principal efii^rts of the Admiralty were directed 
to strengthen the fleet off Brest, and the coast of Spain, whence the 
threatened invasion might be expected to issue; at the same time, Nelson 
was sent into the Mediterranean with thirteen sail of the line and one ship 
of fifty guns. 

Napoleon arrived at Toulon on the 9th of May, and took command o,f 
the army. The fleet consisted of thirteen ships of the line, two of sixty- 
four guns, fourteen frigates, seventy-two brigs and cutters, and four hun- 
dred transports : it bore thirty-six thousand soldiers of all arms, and ten 
thousand sailors. On the 19th of May, the fleet set sail. It proceeded 
first to Genoa, and thence to Ajaccio and Civita Castellana ; and, having 
effected a junction with the squadrons in those harbors, bore away for 
Malta, where it arrived on the 10th of June. Before Napoleon left 
France, a secret arrangement had been made with the grand-master and 
principal officers of Malta for its surrender to the French, and they now 
took quiet possession of this immense fortress and its unrivalled harbor. 
Napoleon immediately put its batteries in condition, left a sufficient gar- 
rison to defend the place, and on the 19th of June sailed for Egypt. 

On the 20th of June, Nelson arrived at Naples ; he hastened thence to 
Messina, but learning that the French fleet had reached Malta and taken 
possession of it, he directed his course toward Alexandria, where he 
arrived on the 29th : but finding no enemy, he set sail for the north, 
imagining that the expedition of Napoleon was bound for the Dardanelles. 
It is a singular fact, that on the night of the 29th of June, the French and 
English fleet crossed each other's track without either party's being 
aware of it. 

The French fleet came in sight of the Egyptian shore on the 1st of 
July, and on the 2nd the troops were landed and marched to Alexandria, 
which place they carried by assault, after a brief resistance of the Turk- 
ish garrison. On the 6th of July, Napoleon set out for Cairo with thirty 
thousand men, part of whom were put on board a flotilla of boats, and the 
remainder proceeded by land across the Desert. After a march of five 
days, in which the men suffered immensely from heat and thirst, the land 
force formed a junction with the flotilla, and they proceeded in company 
up the Nile. On the 13th, the army reached Chebreiss, where they 
Avere attacked by Moui'ad Bey with a detachment of Mamelukes and 
native infantry. The Egyptians were quickly defeated with a loss of 
six hundred men, and retired in disorder toward Cairo. On the 21st of 
July, the French army came in sight of that place, and of the Pyramids 
on the opposite bank of the Nile. Here, Mourad Bey was intrenched, 
v/ith his entire force of twelve thousand infantry and six thousand Mame- 
lukes. 

Napoleon advanced in five divisions formed in hollow squares, with the 
artillery at the angles, and the officers and baggage in the centre. As 
they approached Mourad's position, he sallied forth at the head of his 
fiery Mamelukes — who, considered as individual horsemen, were the finest 
cavalry in the world — and bore down upon the French squares. Their 
charge was terrific, but the Republican infantry stood firm, presenting a 
wall of bayonets on every side which the horses could not penetrate ; and 



1798.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 99 

while the Mamelukes wheeled around and among the squares, in the 
vain endeavor to find or force an opening, the inner ranks of the French 
musketeers kept up a sustained fire at point-blank range, which mowed 
down their assailants by hundreds. This murderous contest was contin- 
ued until nearly one half of the Mamelukes were destroyed, when they 
retreated to their intrenchments. Napoleon pressed forward in pursuit, 
drove both cavalry and infantry toward the Nile, and so totally dispersed 
the whole force, that not more than two thousand five hundred made their 
escape into Upper Egypt. This action decided the fate of Egypt ; the 
whole country submitted at once to the French arms, and Napoleon 
established himself at Cairo. 

Meanwhile, Nelson, having learned the real destination of the French 
fleet, returned to the Nile on the 1st of August, where he found the 
enemy's squadron drawn up in order of battle in the Bay of Aboukir. 
The French ships were at anchor close in-shore, and formed in a curve, 
with the concave side of the line toward the sea. As soon as Nelson had 
accurately examined the position of the enemy, he ordered one half of 
his fleet to penetrate on the inner side of the French line and come to 
anchor, while the other half anchored along the outer side, and thus 
doubled on the enemy's ships. The British fleet commenced this move- 
ment at three o'clock in the afternoon, and as they came up in succession, 
were received with a steady fire from the French broadsides. Five 
seventy- fours soon passed between the French line and the shore, enga- 
ging nine of their antagonists, while six others took post on the opposite 
side of the same ships. Another British vessel, the Leander, was inter- 
posed across the French line, where she prevented the remainder of the 
enemy's ships from assisting their comrades, and with her broadsides 
raked right and left those between which she was placed. 

It now grew dark, but both fleets were illuminated by the incessant 
discharge of more than two thousand pieces of cannon, and the volumes 
of flame and smoke that rolled over the bay, gave it the appearance of a 
terrific volcano. Victory soon declared for the British. Before nine 
o'clock, three ships of the line had struck, two were dismasted, and the 
Orient, of one hundred and twenty guns, was discovered to be on fire : 
the light of this burning vessel, soon rendered every ship in both fleets 
distinctly visible, and, by showing the shattered condition of the French- 
men, redoubled the ardor of the British seamen. At ten o'clock, the 
Orient blew up with a tremendous explosion, and for a few minutes, as 
by common consent, the firing on both sides ceased : but it was soon 
renewed, and continued until after midnight. At daybreak, the magni- 
tude of the victory was discovered. The Orient had disappeared, the 
frigate La Serieuse was sunk, and the whole French line, excepting the 
Guillaume Tell and the Genereux, had struck their colors : these ships, 
having been but slightly engaged, cut their cables, stood out to sea, and 
escaped. 

Honors and rewards were heaped by a grateful nation on the heroes 
of the Nile. Nelson was created a Baron, with a pension of two thousand 
pounds sterling to himself and his two immediate successors; the Grand 
Signior, the Emperor of Russia, the King of Sardinia, the King of Naples, 
and the East India Company made him magnificent presents, and his 
name was for ever embalmed in the recollection of his countrymen. 
When Mr. Pitt was reproached for not conferring a higher dignity on 
D2 



100 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chaf-XHI. 

the conqueror, he replied, "Admiral Nelson's fame will be coequal with 
the British name, and it will be remembered that he gained the greatest 
naval victory on record, when no man will think of asking whether he 
was created a baron, a viscount, or an earl." 

The battle of the Nile was a mortal stroke to the French expedition ; 
as it cut off all hope of the return of the army, and all means of preserv- 
ing the conquest Napoleon had achieved. Nor were its effects less 
important in Europe ; as it brought about an alliance between the courts 
of St. Petersburg, London and Constantinople against France ; and the 
unusual spectacle of a junction between the Russian and Turkish fleets 
in the Hellespont, on the 1st of September, helped to render memorable 
this astonishing victory. The squadron, thus combined, not being required 
on the coast of Egypt, steered for the island of Corfu, and established a 
rigorous blockade of that fortress and harbor. 

Being now excluded from intercourse with Europe, and menaced with 
a serious attack from the Turks, Napoleon resolved on an expedition into 
Syria, where the Sultan was assembling his forces. His army, however, 
was already greatly reduced by fatigue, sickness and the sword; and, 
after leaving behind him such garrisons as were indispensable to maintain 
his conquests, thirteen thousand men, with nine hundred cavalry and 
forty-nine pieces of cannon, constituted the whole of his disposable force. 
He set out for Syria on the 11th of February, 1799, and as his march 
lay across the Desert, the troops suffered so greatly that it required all 
his efforts to keep them in their ranks. 

On the 4th of March, the army arrived at Jaffa, the Joppa of antiquity. 
Napoleon sent a flag of truce to the town and summoned it to surrender, 
but his messenger was beheaded on the spot. He immediately opened a 
fire of artillery on the walls, and on the 6th, the breach thus made being 
declared practicable, an assault took place. In the mean time, the 
grenadiers of Bon's division discovered an opening on the sea-side, and, 
by crowding into the city in the rear, decided the victory. A desperate 
carnage ensued, and the town was delivered up to the horrors of sack 
and pillage. During this scene of slaughter and rapine, four thousand 
of the garrison proposed to lay down their arms on condition of their lives 
being "spared ; and Eugene Beauharnois (Napoleon's step-son) and Cro- 
■ aier— both aids-de-camp of Napoleon — took upon themselves to agree to 
the proposal. The prisoners were conducted to the head-quarters of 
the French commander, who ordered their arms to be tied behind their 
backs, and summoned a council of war to deliberate on their fate. For 
two days, the terrible question, "What is to be done with these captives ? 
was debated. If they were sent back to Egypt, the force detached to 
guard them would weaken the army to inefficiency ; if they were libe- 
rated, they would increase the number of the already too numerous 
enemies of France ; if they were detained as prisoners in the camp, they 
would consume the scanty supplies of provisions indispensable for the 
support of the French soldiers. The alternative of putting them to death 
in cold blood presented itself and was adopted by Napoleon. This atro- 
cious massacre took place on the 10th of March. The unhappy victims 
were separated into small detachments, fettered, and shot down like beasts 
of prey by the French infantry. Their bones still remain in great heaps 
amid the sand-hills of the Desert— a monument of the eternal infamy 
of Napoleon. 



1799.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 101 

The French army pursued its route, and on the 16th of March arrived 
at Acre, a strong fortress on the shores of the Mediterranean, and distin- 
guished as a place of great importance in the wars of the Crusades. The 
town was well garrisoned, ably commanded by the Pacha of Syria, and 
supported by the English squadron in the bay, under the command of Sir 
Sidney Smith. 

This celebrated man, who had been wrecked on the coast of France 
and confined in the Temple, made his escape a few days after Napoleon 
left Paris for Toulon ; and after a variety of adventures arrived in 
England, where he was appointed to the command of the squadron in 
the Archipelago. Having received information of the intended attack 
on Acre, he hastened to that place, and arrived just two days before the 
appearance of the French army : his fleet consisted of the Tiger, eighty- 
four guns, the Theseus, seventy-four, and some smaller vessels. He 
immediately cooperated with the garrison, and aided in strengthening 
their defences; and on the day after his arrival, was fortunate enough to 
capture the French flotilla from Alexandria with the heavy artillery and 
stores for the siege, as it was creeping around the headlands of Mount 
Carmel : these guns were invaluable to the garrison, and their loss was 
irreparable to the French army. 

Napoleon commenced his attack on the 28th of March, but he was 
bravely repulsed ; and he renewed the assault on the 1st of April with a 
similar result: and while he was thus unsuccessful in front, his rear was 
menaced by an army of Oriental militia, thirty thousand strong, who had 
been for some time assembling in the provinces and following his march. 
He retired from Acre, therefore, to give battle to this host at Mount 
Thabor, where he entirely routed them. In the mean time, the French 
cruisers succeeded in landing nine heavy guns at Jaffa, which being 
now transported to Acre, were of some assistance to the French army in 
resuming the siege of that place. 

On the evening of the 7th of May, an unknown fleet was seen on the 
verge of the horizon, and both besiegers and besieged were in the greatest 
anxiety to learn its purpose and destination ; it was soon ascertained that 
the ships, thirty in number, were the Ottoman fleet dispatched thither to 
aid in the defence of Acre. 

Napoleon, seeing the necessity of pressing his attacks if he hoped to 
succeed, redoubled his efforts. He kept up a constant cannonade and 
bombardment during two days, and on the 10th of May made his final 
demonstration : but all was without avail ; the intrepidity of both the 
English and Turkish troops proved an overmatch for the desperate valor 
of the French, and Napoleon was compelled to retreat. The siege had 
cost him, in slain and wounded, nearly one half of his army and almost 
all his artillery and baggage, which latter fell into the hands of Sir 
Sidney Smith. After a painful retreat over the Desert, the remnants 
of the French army reached El-Arish on the 1st of June, and proceeded 
thence by easy marches to Cairo. 

On the 15th of July, Napoleon received intelligence of the landing of a 
large body of Turks in Aboukir Bay, and he immediately set off with all 
his disposable forces to meet them. He arrived on the 23rd at Alexan- 
dria, and on the 25th reached Aboukir, where the Turks were strongly 
intrenched on the peninsula: a position which, however capable of 
defence, offered no retreat in case of disaster. The result showed the 
D3 



102 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XIV. 

error committed by the Turks in the choice of ground ; for in the action 
that took place, two thousand were slain, two thousand made prisoners, 
and five thousand driven into the sea by the impetuous charge of Murat's 
cavalry : thus, the whole army of nine thousand men was totally destroyed; 
an event almost unparalleled in modern warfare. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM THE PEACE OF CAMPO FORMIC TO THE RENEWAL OF THE WAR. 

During the uncertainty which prevailed as to the destination of the 
French armament that eventually sailed for Egypt, the British govern- 
ment felt great anxiety to provide for the national defence, without incur- 
ring a ruinous expense by the augmentation of the regular army : and, 
under pressure of the danger to be apprehended from a French invasion, 
the ministry, with the approbation of the king, ventured on the bold step 
of allowing regiments of volunteers to be raised in every part of the king- 
dom. This bill passed the House on the 6th of May ; and, in a few 
weeks, one hundred and fifty thousand men were enrolled under the new 
law, and armed for the protection of the country. The event proved that 
the confidence of the government in the loyalty of the people was not 
misplaced. In no instance, did the volunteers thus raised fail in their • 
duty, or swerve from the principles of patriotism which first brought them 
together. When they put on their uniform they cast off" all the vacillating 
feelings of former years, and, in taking up their arms, they adopted the 
resolution to defend the cause of England to the last. 

While England was thus taking measures to secure herself from inva- 
sion, the French Directory were gradually extending their despotism over 
the states adjacent to France. The Dutch had now an opportunity to 
contrast the temperate government of the House of Orange with the demo- 
cratic rule which was substituted in its stead. Their trade was ruined, 
their navy defeated, their flag swept from the ocean, and their numerous 
merchant vessels were rotting in their harbors. A reaction in favor of the 
former order of things had, in consequence, become very general in the 
minds of the people ; which feeling the French Directory deemed it 
necessary to quell, by overthrowing the remnants of the aristocratic con- 
stitution, and vesting the government in a Directory of their own selection. 
The Dutch Assembly was, at this time, engaged in framing a Constitution, 
and the majority were resolved to establish it on the old federative prin- 
ciples ; but the leaders of the minority, aided by the French troops, sur- 
rounded the council-hall during the session, arrested twenty-two of the 
prominent deputies of the Orange party, and the six commissioners of 
foreign relations. The remainder of the Assembly met early on the 
following morning, and, under the dictation of the bayonet, passed decrees 
sanctioning their acts of violence, and introducing a form of government 
on the model of that established in France. By this new Constitution, the 
privileges of the provinces were abolished ; the ancient federal Union 
superseded by a Republic, one and indivisible ; the provincial authorities 



1798.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 103 

changed into functionaries emanating from the central government; a 
Council of Ancients and Chamber of Deputies established; and the exe- 
cutive authority confided to a Directory of five members, all devoted to 
the interests of France. The sitting was terminated by an oath of hatred 
to the Stadtholder, the federal system, and the aristocracy ; and ten depu- 
ties w^ho refused to take the oath were summarily deprived of their seats. 
So completely was the whole accomplished, under the terror inspired by 
the army, that some months afterward, when the means of intimidation 
were removed, a number of deputies who had joined in these acts of 
usurpation, resigned their seats, and protested against the })art they had 
been compelled to take in the transaction. 

The people of Holland soon discovered, that in the pursuit of democratic 
power they had lost their ancient liberty. The first step of the new Direc- 
tory was the issuing of a proclamation, forbidding all petitions from cor- 
porate bodies or assemblages of men, and declaring that none would be 
received but from insulated individuals; whereby they extinguished the 
national voice in the only quarter where it could make itself heard in a 
serious manner. All the public functionaries were appointed from the 
Jacobin party ; numbers of people were banished or proscribed ; and, 
under pretext of securing the public tranquillity, domiciliary visits and 
arrests were multiplied to an alarming extent. Individuals suspected of 
a leaning to the opposition, were deprived of the right of voting in the pri- 
mary assemblies ; and, finally, the sitting assembly declared itself the 
permanent Legislative Body — thus suspending all elections by the people. 
These flagrant wrongs excited the utmost indignation throughout the coun- 
try, and the Directors soon became as offensive as they had formerly been 
agreeable to the populace. Alarmed at the position of affairs, and fearful 
of losing their influence in Holland, the French Directory ordered Gene- 
ral Daendels to lake military possession of the government. He accord- 
ingly led two companies of grenadiers to the palace of the Directory, seized 
one member, and forced two to resign; the other two made their escape. 
A provisional government was then formed, consisting of Daendels and 
two associates, nominated by the French Directory, without the slight- 
est regard to the wishes of the people or any pretence of authority from 
them. Thus, military despotism was the result of revolutionary changes 
in Holland, within a few years after they were first commenced, amid the 
general transports of the lower orders. 

Switzerland was the next object of the Directory's ambition. The 
constitutions of the Swiss Cantons were various. In some, as the Forest 
Cantons, they were highly democratic; in others, as in Berne, essentially 
aristocratic : but in all, the great objects of government — security to per- 
sons and property, freedom in life and religion — were attained, and the 
aspect of the population exhibited a degree of happiness and prosperity 
unparalleled in any other part of the world. The military sti'ength of 
Switzerland lay in the militia of the different Cantons; which, though 
formidable if united and led by chiefs skilled in mountain warfare, was 
ill qualified to maintain a protracted struggle with such armies as the 
neighboring powers could bring into the field. 

The chief defect in the constitution of the Helvetic Confederacy was that, 
with the usual jealousy of the possessors of political power, it excluded the 
conquered provinces from a participation in the privileges enjoyed by the 
older Cantons ; and thus the seeds of disaffection were sown between the 



104 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XIV 

component parts of the state : yet, practically, this evil was of trifling 
weight, under the truly paternal and beneficent system of Swiss admin- 
istration ; nor would it have ever led to serious consequences, had the sim- 
ple minded and honest peasantry of Switzerland been left in the quiet 
enjoyment of such rights as were already conceded to them. But the 
proximity of Switzerland to France, and the contagion of French revo- 
lutionary principles, combined with the infamous system of Republican 
propagandism, were fatal to the peace of this devoted country. 

As early as July, 1797, the French envoy, Mengaud, was dispatched 
to Berne to insist on the dismissal of the English resident Wickham, and, 
at the same time, to set on foot intrigues with the democrat ic party, simi- 
lar to those which were practiced for the overthrow of Venice. Bv a 
prudent resolution of the English government, intended to save the Swiss 
from a controversy with their formidable neighbors, Wickham was recalled. 
The Directory, foiled in their attempt to involve the SAviss in a conflict, 
ordered their troops on the frontier to take possession of that part of the 
territory of Bale which was subject to the jurisdiction of the Cantons: but 
here, too, the French were unsuccessful, for the Swiss government con- 
fined itself to simple negotiations in reply to so glaring a violation of 
existing treaties. At length, Napoleon struck a chord in the Valteline, 
which soon vibrated with fatal effect throughout Switzerland, and, by rous- 
ing the spirit of democracy, prepared the country for subjugation. This 
province, consisting of five bailiwicks, and containing one hundred and 
sixty thousand inhabitants, extended from the source of the Adda to its 
junction with the Lake of Como. It had been formerlj^ conquered by the 
Grisons from the Duke of Milan. Francis I. had guaranteed to them the 
enjoyment of it, and they had governed it with moderation and justice for 
three centuries. Napoleon, however, saw in this sequestered valley a 
place for inserting the wedge of dissolution into the Helvetic Confederacy ; 
and, in the summer of 1797, he sent his aid-de-camp Leclerc to the cottages 
of the province. It was not long before the inhabitants, seduced by his 
insidious counsels, rose in insurrection, claimed their independence, ex- 
pelled the Swiss authorities and hoisted the tricolor flag. Napoleon, 
chosen in the plenitude of his power at Montebello as mediator between 
the contending parties, pronounced a decree which settled the disputed 
points by annexing the whole insurgent territory to the Cis-Alpine Republic. 

This iniquitous proceeding, which openly encouraged every subject dis- 
trict in the Swiss Confederacy to declare its independence, had its due 
effect in the Valais, the Pays de Vaud, and other provinces, where the 
revolutionary spirit soon declared itself. This was followed by an act of 
open hostility on the part of France, the seizure, namely, of the province 
of Erguel, on the 15th December, by five battalions drawn from the army 
of the Rhine. An insurrection in the Pays de Vaud immediately took 
place; and the French envoy, Mengaud, proclaimed that the governments 
of Berne and Fribourg should be held responsible for the persons and pro- 
perty of all those who addressed themselves to France for the restitution 
of their rights. On the 4th of January, 1798, General Menard, with ten 
thousand men. established his head-quarters at Ferney, near Geneva, to 
support the insurgents. These measures soon brought affairs to a crisis: 
the insurrections became general, and the Senate of Berne boldly deter- 
mined on resistance. They issued a proclamation calling on the shep- 
herds of the Alps to defend their country, and ordered out the militia, 



1798.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 105 

twenty thousand strojig. Being still desirous to avoid proceeding to extre- 
mities, they informed the Directory that they would disband their miliMa 
if the invaders would withdraw. But the Directory no longer confined 
their pretensions to supporting the insurgents ; they insisted on overturn- 
ing the whole Constitution of the country, forming twenty-two Cantons 
instead of thirteen, and creating a Republic, one and indivisible, with a 
Directory in all respects like that of France. 

As peace was now impossible, the Senate urged forward their prepara-' 
tions. The Oberland en masse flew to arms, the shepherds descended 
from their glaciers, every valley sent forth its little horde of men, and the 
accumulating streams united like an Alpine torrent, forming a body of 
near twenty thousand combatants on the frontiers of Berne. The smaller 
Cantons followed the example : Uri, Underwalden, Schwytz, and Soleure, 
sent forth their contingents with alacrity ; and the peasants set out from 
their cottages, not doubting of triumph in the holy war of independence. 
The women fanned the generous flame, not only by encouraging their 
husbands and brothers to take up arms, but by themselves joining the ranks 
with a determination to share the perils and glories of the strife. Almost 
everywhere, the inhabitants of the mountains retained their allegiance ; 
the citizens of the towns and plains alone were deluded by the fanaticism 
of revolution. 

General D'Erlach, who commanded the Swiss troops, divided his army 
into three corps, of about seven thousand men each, who were so posted 
as to cover Fribourg, Buren and Soleure. Had D'Erlach acted on the 
offensive before the French forces were concentrated, he would probably 
have gained such decisive success as to encourage the loyal inhabitants, 
and confirm the patriotism of those who were wavering ; but by waiting 
the attack of the French, he yielded the advantage to General Brune, who, 
during the inaction of the Swiss, completed the organization of his troops. 
He moved, on the 2nd of March, toward Fribourg and Soleure, where the 
revolutionary partisans wei'e the most numerous. His advance was hero- 
ically opposed by a single Swiss battalion, which would not yield until 
it was nearly cut to pieces ; but the garrisons of Fribourg and Soleure 
surrendered after a mere show of resistance ; and as by this defeat the 
position of D'Erlach was turned, he was forced to make a discouraging 
retreat at the very commencement of the campaign : a movement which 
led to the destruction of nearly one-half of his corps. Brune followed up 
his victory by an attack on the second Swiss corps, under Graffenreid; 
but here, the French veterans, although twice the numerical strength of 
their opponents, were repulsed with the loss of two thousand men and 
eighteen pieces of cannon. The third corps, now commanded by D'Erlach 
in person, was less fortunate: it was assailed by the division of Schawen- 
burgh, in front of Berne, and after an obstinate contest, maintained during 
the whole day, the Swiss were defeated, and Berne capitulated on the 
same night. Deplorable excesses followed the dispersion of the Swiss 
army. The brave D'Erlach was murdered by his own soldiers at Mun- 
zingen ; and Steiger, his second in command, barely escaped the same 
fate by a flight into Bavaria. Many other brave officers fell victims to 
the fury of the troops ; and the democratic party, by spreading the belief 
that the army had been betrayed by its leaders, occasioned the destruction 
of the only men who might have sustained the sinking fortunes of their 
country. 



-Ic06 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XIV. 

The French, on their entrance into Berne, took possession of its treasury, 
with the public archives, and three hundred pieces of cannon and forty 
thousand muskets. The fall of this town was followed by an explosion 
of the revolutionaiy volcano over a great part of Switzerland. The people 
of Zurich and Lucerne rose in open insurrection, dispossessed the authori- 
ties, and hoisted the tricolor flag : the Lower Valaisans revolted against 
the Upper, and, with the aid of the French, made themselves masters 
of the castellated cliffs of Sion. Nearly all the level provinces joined 
the revolutionists. A new Constitution was speedily formed for the con- 
federacy, on the basis of that established in France in 1795 ; and it was 
proclaimed at Aran on the r2th of April. By this instrument, all Swit- 
zerland was comprised in one Republic; and the entire control of the 
government placed in the hands of five Directors, who evinced their quali- 
ties by passing a law to the effect, that whosoever ^po/^e disrespectfully of 
the new authorities, should be punished with death. 

But while the rich and popular part of Switzerland was thus falling a 
prey to the revolutionary fever of the tidies, a more generous spirit ani- 
mated the shepherds of the small Cantons. The people of Schwytz, Uri, 
Underwalden, Glarus, Sargans, Turgovie and St. Gall, rejected the new 
Constitution. The inhabitants of these romantic and sequestered regions, 
communicating little with the rest of the world, ardently attached to their 
liberties, and inheriting all the dauntless intrepidity of their forefathers, 
were not to be seduced by the glittering offers of revolutionary freedom. 

Aloys Reding, a brave and experienced soldier who had fought against 
the French in Spain, took the lead in this resistance, with the hope that he 
might maintain a Vendean war amid the precipices and woods of the 
Alps, until the German nations were roused to his relief: but a district 
containing an entire population of only eighty thousand, could hardly 
accomplish what the three millions of Brittany and Vendee had failed to 
achieve. Reding began his heroic career by an attack on Lucerne, which 
speedily surrendered ; but the advance of a large body of French troops 
forced him to abandon his conquest, and concentrate his forces for defence. 
After meeting with several reverses, he took post on Morgarten with the 
little army of Schwytz, three thousand in number. Early in the morning 
o^he 20th of May, a corps of seven thousand French soldiers appeared 
(Spending from the hills to the attack. The Schwytzers advanced to 
meet them, encountered them before they had reached the bottom of the 
slope, and forced them backward to the summit of the ridge. The battle 
now raged for the whole day, but the French were unable to dislodge the 
brave peasants from their position. During the night, both sides were 
recnforced by fresh troops ; and the next morning the battle was resumed 
with the same result. The rocks, the woods, the thickets, were bristling 
with armed men ; every cottage became a post of defence, every meadow 
a scene of carnage, and every stream was dyed with blood. Darkness 
put an end to the combat, and still the mountaineers were unsubdued : but 
in the night they received intelligence that a longer continuance of the 
struggle would be unavailing. The inhabitants of Uri and Underwalden 
had "been driven into their valleys, a French corps was rapidly advancing 
in the rear' of Morgarten, and Sargans and Glarus had submitted to the 
invaders. Slowly "and reluctantly the men of Schwytz were brought to 
yield to the inexorable necessity ; they submitted to the persuasion of 
Reding, and agreed to a convention, by which they were to accept the 



1798.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 107 

Constitution and be allowed the use of their arms, the enjoyment of their 
religion and property ; and, on the other hand, the French troops were to 
withdraw from the frontier. The other small Cantons followed this exam- 
ple, and peace was for a time restored to that part of Switzerland. 

The period that followed these bloody hostilities, was one of bitter suffer- 
ing and humiliation to the conquered people. Forty thousand men lived 
upon them at free quarters; and the requisitions for the pay, clothing and 
equipments of these hard task-masters, furnished a sad contrast to the illu- 
sions which had seduced the urban population from their allegiance. It 
was in vain that the revolutionary authorities — now themselves alive to the 
miseries they had brought on their country — protested against the various 
spoliations of the French Directory and their still more rapacious commis- 
sioners : they were merely informed, in reply, that Switzerland was a con- 
quered nation, and must submit to the lot of the vanquished. The Swiss 
Directors, in disgust resigned their places ; but this was equally unavailing; 
the vacancies were supplied by more subservient Directors, who formed a 
treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, with France, binding Switzer- 
land to furnish a contingent of troops and to submit to the construction of 
two military roads through the Alps, one to Italy and one to Swabia : 
conditions far worse for Switzerland than would have been an annexation 
of that country to France ; since they nnposed on the former all the bur- 
dens and dangers of war, without either its advantages or its glories. 

The discontent arising from all these grievances was fast increasing, 
when the imposition of the oath to the new Constitution brought matters to 
a crisis in the small Cantons : the shepherds of Underwalden unanimously 
declared that they would rather perish than take the oath ; and they were 
joined by the most determined men of Uri and Schwytz. Immediately, 
sixteen thousand French troops were dispatched to quell this revolt — a 
force so overwhelming, that the mountaineers from the first despaired of 
success ; but they resolved to yield nothing, and die in defending their 
rights. In their despair, they neglected both discipline and method ; yet, 
such was the force of their native valor, three thousand shepherds kept at 
bay sixteen thousand of the bravest troops of France. Every hedge, thicket 
and cottage was obstinately defended ; the dying crawled into the hottest 
of the fire ; the women and children threw themselves on the enenw's 
bayonets ; but heroism and devotion were equally vain against sucli^Rs- 
perate odds. Slowly but steadily the French columns gained ground, 
and their progress was marked by the flaming houses and bleeding corses 
of the inhabitants. Near the close of the action, a band of two hundred 
Schwytzers arrived on the field ; they were too late and too few to retrieve 
the battle, but they perished to a man after having slain twice their num. 
ber of the enemy. Night at length drew a veil over this scene of horror, 
which ended in the total subjugation of these Cantons to the stern despotism 
of France. 

Such tragical events were little calculated to induce other states to 
follow the example of the Swiss in leaguing themselves to the principles 
or leaders of French democracy. The Grisons took counsel from the 
disasters of their brethren in the Forest Cantons, and invoked the aid 
of Austria, who, by the authority of former treaties, now guaranteed and 
secured their independence. 

The Ecclesiastical States of Italy were the next to be attacked. It 
had long been an avowed object of French Republican ambition, to revo- 



108 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XIV. 

lutionize the Roman people, and plant the tricolor flag in the city of 
Brutus: and fortune at length favored the Directory with a pretext for 
accomplishing this design. 

Joseph Bonaparte, brother to Napoleon, had been appointed ambassador 
at the court of Rome ; but as he was deemed too honorable a man to be 
intrusted with the management of political intrigue, Generals Duphot 
and Sherlock were ordered to accompany him. The French embassy, 
under their direction, soon became a centre of revolutionary action; and 
the numerous ardent characters with which the Italian cities ever abound, 
flocked there as to a common focus, whence the next great explosion of 
democratic power was to be expected. On the 27th of December, 1797, 
a crowd assembled in Rome and moved to the palace of the French 
ambassador, where they exclaimed, "Vive la Republique Romaine !" and 
invoked the aid of the French in planting the tricolor flag on the Capitol. 
In this emergency, the papal ministers sent a regiment of dragoons to 
prevent a sortie of the revolutionists from the ambassador's palace ; and 
these troops gave notice to the insurgents that their orders were to allow- 
no one to leave the place. Upon this, Duphot, indignant at being 
restrained by the pontifical forces, drew his sword, rushed down the 
staircase, and put himself at the head of a hundred and fifty armed 
Roman democrats, who were contending with the dragoons in the court- 
yard of the palace. He was instantly killed by a volley from the papal 
soldiers: a violent scufl^e ensued, and after passing several hours in the 
greatest alarm, Joseph Bonaparte, with his suite, retired to Florence. 

This catastrophe, however obviously occasioned by the revolutionary 
schemes which were on foot and in agitation at the residence of the 
French ambassador, did literally take place within the precincts of his 
palace, and was therefore a violation of the law of nations. The Direc- 
tory declared war against Rome with a promptness that showed how 
eagerly they had sought the quarrel, and Berthier received orders to 
advance instantly upon the Ecclesiastical dominions. That general, at 
the head of eighteen thousand veterans, entered Ancona on the 25th of 
January, 1798, where he completed a revolution that had broken out a 
few days before, secured its fortress, crossed the Appenines, and on the 
1 ^ of February, appeared in front of the Eternal City. The pope, 
(ffis VI.,) who was now more than eighty years of age, shut himself up 
in the Vatican, and spent night and day at the foot of the altar, imploring 
protection from Heaven. Berthier might easily have taken possession 
of Rome at once, but he preferred to avail himself of the sorry pretext 
of resorting to that step only when the inhabitants invoked his aid ; and 
he encamped without the walls for five days, while the revolutionists 
within were completing their preparations. On the 15th of February, 
all was arranged: the revolutionists, in open revolt, passed through the 
streets, invited the French to enter, and Berthier hoisted the flag of the 
Republic over the walls of Rome. 

But the Directory did not stop at the mere conquest of the city. They 
ordered the pope to retire into Tuscany, dismiss his Swiss guard, supply 
their place with French soldiers, and dispossess himself of his temporal 
authority. He replied with the firmness of a martyr: "I am prepared 
for every kind of disgrace ; but as supreme pontiff, I am resolved to die 
in the exercise of all my powers. You may employ force ; you may 
become masters of my body, but not of my soul. Free in the region 



1798.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. MQ 

where it is placed, it fears neither the events nor the sufferings of this 
life. I stand on the threshold of another world, where T shall soon be 
sheltered from the violence and impiety of this." Force was, neverthe- 
less, employed by the French. The aged pontiff was dragged from the 
altar in his palace, his repositories were plundered, the very rino-s torn 
from his fingers, and he himself, with only a few domestics for attendants, 
was conveyed into Tuscany, amid the brutal jests and sacrilegious sonus 
of the French dragoons. The subsequent treatment of this venerable 
man was still more disgraceful to the Republic, Fearful that his virtues 
and sufferings might produce an influence in Italy unfavorable to the 
interests of France, the Directory ordered him to be removed to Leghorn, 
ill March, 1799. After remaining there for a time, he was compelled to 
renew his journey, was conveyed across the Appenines and the Alps, 
exposed, by travelling at night, to the cold of those elevated regions; 
and he at length reached Valence, where he expired on the 29th of 
August, in the eighty-second year of his age and the twenty-fourth of his 
pontificate. 

But long before the pope sunk under the persecution of his oppressors, 
Rome experienced the bitter fruits of republican fraternization. Imme- 
diately on the entrance of the French troops into the city, a systematic 
pillage was commenced that surpassed any to which Rome had previously 
been subjected : treasures of art which had survived the Gothic fire and 
the rapacity of Spanish soldiers in a past age, were now borne off; and 
although the bloodshed was much less, the spoil collected was incom- 
parably greater than at the disastrous sack of Rome which followed the 
death of the Coistable de Bourbon. The work of revolution now pro- 
ceeded rapidly in the Roman states. All the ancient institutions were 
subverted ; the executive was made to consist of five consuls, after the 
model of the French Directory ; heavy contributions and forced loans 
were exacted from the wealthier classes; the legislative power was 
vested in two Chambers chosen by the lowest ranks, and the state was 
divided into eight departments. 

While the Roman states were thus undergoing fusion in the revolu- 
tionary crucible, the Constitution of the Cis-Alpine Republic disappeared 
as rapidly as it had been formed. The endless exactions and impositions 
of the Directory soon exhausted the resources of that country, and forqpd 
the inhabitants, in self-defence, to organize a conspiracy for throwino- off 
the French yoke. This plan was discovered, the existing Constitution 
dissolved, and a new one established under the dictation of the French 
ambassador, in which no attention was paid to the liberties or wishes of 
the people. 

The King of Sardinia was at this time enduring the last acts of humil- 
iation from the hands of his merciless allies. The peace which this 
monarch had early concluded with their victorious general, the fidelity 
with which he had discharged his engagements, and the firm support that 
the possession of his fortresses had given to the French troops, could not 
save him from spoliation. Since his opening the gates of Italy to France 
by the cession of the Piedmontese fortresses, his life had been a continual 
scene of mortification and disappointment. His territories were traversed 
in every direction by French columns, of whose approach he received no 
notice, except a statement of the supplies they required, and these he was 
compelled to furnish gratuitously. He was forced to banish all emi- 



no H I S T R Y F E U. R P E [Chap. XIV. 

grants from his dominions, and oppress his subjects by enormous contri- 
butions for the use of his insatiable allies ; and, at the same time, his 
provinces were filled with revolutionary clubs, openly patronized by the 
French ambassador, where the dismemberment of his government was 
daily proposed. In due time, the revolutionists made their demonstration 
by assembling in a body, eight thousand strong, in the district of Carrioso. 
The king's troops defeated them in two successive engagements ; but 
here the Directory interfered ; and, on the ground of an alleged conspi- 
racy in Piedmont, pretended to have been organized by the. king for the 
massacre of the French troops, they insisted on his surrendering to them 
the invaluable fortress of Turin. He was forced to submit, and thus 
divested himself of the last means of resistance. His guards were now 
dismissed, and French soldiers attended him on all occasions, who, under 
the semblance of respect, kept him a prisoner in his own palace. The 
government was then remodeled ; French officers were appointed to 
conduct it ; the arsenals, the treasury, and all remaining fortresses were 
seized ; and, finally, the king was constrained to abdicate his continental 
authority, and take refuge in the island of Sardinia. 

The French intriguers were next occupied with the afl^airs of Naples, 
where, since the occupation of Rome by Berthier, extensive military 
preparations had been made for the protection of the government. The 
I'evolutionary party had already widely disseminated their principles, and 
excited both the alarm and indignation of the king, when news was 
received of the total destruction of the French fleet at the battle of the 
Nile. No words can describe the joy to which this event gave rise in 
Naples ; and on the arrival of Nelson at that port with his victorious 
fleet, the enthusiasm of the inhabitants was unbounded. The English 
admiral was received with more than regal honors ; the king and queen 
went out to meet him in the bay, and the shores were thronged by the 
ardent population of the capital, who rent the air with reiterated accla- 
mations. The general exultation at this period raised the courage of the 
Neapolitans to rashness ; and although they took the precaution of nego- 
tiating with Austria for support, and entered into a treaty for that pur- 
pose, they could not be induced to wait for the cooperation of the Emperor 
before they commenced hostilities. The Aulic Council, indeed, sent 
General Mack to command the Neapolitan forces ; but this proceeding, 
however well intended, was of incalculable injury to the cause, for 
Mack's deplorable ignorance and incapacity, served only to precipitate 
the ruin of the king. 

The Directory, in the belief that Naples would not venture to take the 
field, until the Austrian forces were ready to support them, had as yet 
given no orders for concentrating their own troops, who were scattered 
about over the Roman states in divisions of four or five thousand men : 
consequently, the first operations of Mack were successful, and Cham- 
pionnet, who commanded at Rome, was compelled to evacuate that city, 
and retire upon Terni. But the Neapolitan soldiers were so inefficient 
and ill-disciplined, that they fell into confusion from the mere fatigue of 
the march ; and, on their advancing beyond Rome to follow up their suc- 
cess, they were everywhere defeated, with the loss of prisoners, baggage 
and artillery. In one instance, a body of four thousand men laid down 
their arrns to a French detachment of three thousand five hundred, on an 
open field. Mack now speedily retreated with his scattered forces to the 



1798.J HISTORYOFEUROPE. Ill 

Neapolitan frontier, vigorously pursued by Championnet : within seven- 
teen days from the opening of the campaign, eighteen thousand French 
veterans had driven before them forty thousand Neapolitans, splendidly 
dressed and abundantly equipped, but destitute of the qualities vv'hich are 
requisite to success in war. 

The terror inspired by these disasters was such, that the court of 
Naples was conceived to be insecure in the capital ; and in the night of 
the 21st of December, the whole royal family withdrew on board of Nel- 
son's fleet, and embarked for Sicily, with their most valuable effects and 
a large sum in specie from the public treasury. The inhabitants were in 
great consternation when they learned, on the following morning, that 
the royal family and ministers had fled, leaving them to defend them- 
selves against the whole power of France. Nothing could be expected 
from citizens, when the leaders of the state thus deserted their posts ; and 
the revolutionary party, being now uncontrolled, openly took measures 
against the government, and prepared the way for the approaching army 
of invaders. 

Championnet, meanwhile, was entering the Neapolitan territories. He 
found Mack posted in a strong position behind the Volturnus : but the 
native troops were so dispirited, that they scarcely awaited the onset of 
the French before they retreated in every direction, and Championnet 
advanced almost without resistance toward Naples. At Capua, he met 
with a check that might have resulted to his injury, had Mack improved 
a momentary advantage; but the latter general, having lost confidence in 
his troops, instead of striking a decisive blow, proposed an armistice ; 
agreeing to deliver up Capua, Acerra and Benevento to the French, and 
pay them two and a half million of francs within fifteen days. Champi- 
onnet thus escaped from a dilemma with all the fruits of a great victory, 
and inoved on at once to Naples. 

The conditions of this armistice reached the capital before the French 
army arrived there, and it excited the utmost indignation among the 
lazzaroni. These men flew to arms with great unanimity, and deter- 
mined to resist both the payment of the subsidy, and the entrance of the 
invading forces. They drew the artillery from the arsenal, thi'ew up 
intrenchments on the heights commanding the approaches to the city, and 
barricaded the principal streets. For three days, commencing on the 
21st of January, 1799, a dreadful combat raged around the walls. The 
French veterans came on, column after column, with the most desperate 
bravery, but they were met with equal resolution by the defenders of the 
town, and no material advantage had yet been gained by either party, 
when, during an assault on one of the gates, Michel le Fou, the lazzaroni 
leader, was made prisoner. He was conducted to the head-quarters of 
the French general, where, being kindly treated, he offered to mediate 
between the contending parties. This at once terminated the combat. 
The French took possession of the city, disarmed the lazzaroni, appointed 
a provisional government of twenty-one members, and styled the new 
democratic state the Partlienopeian Republic. 

Ireland was doomed next to experience the turmoil of revolutionary ex- 
plosion. All the horrors of the Reign of Terror had failed to open the eyes 
of the Irish people to the real tendency of French reform ; nor could the 
experience of other European states which had sought the aid of France 
in establishing democratic governments within their dominions, teach the 



112 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XIV. 

inhabitants of Ireland the danger of intriguing with the emissaries of the 
Directory. The greater part of the Catholics — who constituted three- 
fourths of the inhabitants — leagued themselves together for establishing 
a Republic in alliance with France ; for the severance of all connection 
with England, the restoration of the Catholic religion, and the reclaiming 
of lands confiscated by the British government during the various rebel- 
lions that had taken place in Ireland in the two preceding centuries. 

The system on which this immense insurrection was organized, was 
one of the most simple and efficacious that ever was devised. Persons 
in every part of Ireland were sworn into an association, called the Society 
of United Irishmen, the real objects of which were kept a profound secret, 
while the ostensible ones were best calculated to allure the populace. 
Each meeting was represented by five persons in a committee, vested 
with the management of all affairs. From every committee, a deputy 
attended a superior body; one or two deputies from these composed a 
county committee ; two from every county committee, a provincial com- 
mittee ; and this last body elected by ballot five persons to superintend 
the whole business of the Union: the names of the five thus appointed 
were communicated only to the secretaries of the provincial committees, 
who were officially intrusted with the canvassing of the votes. Thus, 
though their power was unlimited, their agency was invisible, and some 
hundred thousands of men obeyed the dictates of an unknown authority. 
Liberation from tithes and dues to the Protestant clergy, and the restora- 
tion of the Roman Catholic faith, were the principal inducements held out 
to the lower classes; while Parliamentary reform was the ostensible 
motive submitted to the country at large, that being best calculated to 
conceal the ultimate design, and enlist in the cause the greater number 
of the respectable classes. 

To resist this formidable combination, another society, composed of 
those attached to the British government and Protestant ascendency, was 
formed with the title of Orangemen. The same vehement zeal and 
ardent passion which have always distinguished the Irish character, 
marked the efforts of the rival parties, and the feuds between them became 
universal. Deeds of depredation, rapine and murder filled the land; and 
it was sometimes hard to say whether the most violent acts were perpe- 
trated by the open enemies of the law, or by its unruly defenders. 

The British government, meantime, were not at all aware of the 
extent of the danger. They had received only some vague information 
of the existence of a seditious confederacy, at the moment when the insur- 
rection was on the point of breaking out. But at this juncture, the de- 
struction of the Dutch fleet off" Camperdown having deprived the insurgents 
of the expected aid from France, by destroying the means of transporting 
the French troops, the malcontents became desperate and commenced the 
rebellion without any concentrated action. They maintained, therefore, 
a Vendean system of warfare in the southern counties, and compelled all 
the respectable inhabitants to fly to the towns for safety from massacre 
and conflagration. These disorders were soon repressed, and with great 
severity, by the British regular troops, aided by forty thousand yeomanry 
of the country : but the excesses of the government forces, inseparable 
from this sort of strife, excited the deepest feeling of revenge in the furious 
and undisciplined multitude. 

On the 19th of February, 1798, Lord Moira made an eloquent speech 



1798.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 113 

in the British Parliament in favor of the insurgents ; but the period for 
accommodation was past. On the same day, the Irish committees came 
to a formal resolution to regard no offers from either house of Parliament, 
and agree to no terms but a total separation from Great Britain. Although 
the designs of the insurgents were now revealed, the names of the leaders 
were unknown : but at length, one of the chiefs having betrayed this in- 
formation, fourteen of the principal individuals were arrested at Dublin. 
The conspiratoi-s were thus deprived of their most respectable and intelli- 
gent leaders ; but the rebellion nevertheless broke out in different parts 
of Ireland, on the 23rd of May. A great number of isolated combats 
took place, and two or three pitched battles occurred, between the rebels 
and the regular troops, which were accompanied and followed by a thou- 
sand acts of ferocious cruelty ; but in the event, the discipline and skill 
of the government soldiers prevailed, and by the end of July the insurgents 
were entirely subdued, excepting a few scattered bands in the mountains 
of Wicklow and Wexford. 

So unbounded was the arrogance, and so reckless the policy, of the 
French government at this time, they nearly involved themselves in a 
war with the United States of North America ; a country v/here demo- 
cratic institutions prevailed to the greatest extent, and where gratitude to 
France was unbounded for services rendered during the American war 
with Great Britain, 

The origin of the difficulty was a decree of the Directory, issued in 
January, 1798, ordering that all ships having for their cargoes, in whole 
or in part, English merchandise, should be lawful prize, whoever was the 
proprietor of such merchandise, which should be held contraband from 
the single fact of its coming from England or from any of its colonies ; 
that the harbors of France should be shut against all vessels which had 
so much as touched at an English harbor, and that neutral sailors found 
on board of English vessels should be put to death. This barbarous 
decree immediately brought France into collision with the United States, 
as the ships of the latter country were at that period the great neutral 
carriers of the world. Letters of marque were issued by the Directory, 
and an immense number of American vessels which had touched at Eng- 
lish ports, were brought into France. The American government sent 
envoys to Paris to remonstrate against these proceedings : they were 
however denied an audience with the Directory, but permitted to remain 
in Pans, and addressed by Talleyrand and his inferior agents. It was 
then intimated to the envoys that the intention of the Directory when re- 
fusing to receive them in a public, and yet permitting them to remain in 
a private capacity, was to lay the United States under a contribution of 
five millions of dollars as a loan to the French government, and two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars for the private use of the Directors. This 
disgraceful proposal was urged on the envoys, not only by the subaltern 
agents, but by Talleyrand himself, who openly avowed that nothing could 
be done atf aris without money. These terms were indignantly rejected ; 
the envoys left Paris ; letters of marque were issued by the American 
President ; all commercial intercourse with France was suspended ; 
Washington was appointed generalissimo of the forces of the United States; 
the treaties with France were declared to be at an end ; and every pre- 
paration was made to sustain the national independence. 

The Hanse Towns were not fortunate enough to escape the exactions 



114 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XV. 

of tlie Directory. Their distance from the scene of contest ; their neu- 
trality, so favorable to the commerce of the Republic ; the protection 
openly afforded them by Prussia, could not save them from French rapa- 
city. Their ships, bearing a neutral flag, were daily capture^ by the 
French cruisers ; and they at length purchased a license to navigate the 
high seas by secretly paying near four millions of francs to the Repub- 
lican rulers. 

So long as the European states retained the slightest hope of maintaining 
their independence, these incessant usurpations of the French government 
could not fail to bring about a renewal of the war. France had made 
more rapid strides toward universal dominion during one year of pacific 
encroachment, than in the six preceding years of hostility. The continu- 
ance of amicable relations was favorable to the secret propagation of the 
revolutionary mania; and, without the shock of war, the independence of 
the nations was silently melting away before the insidious but incessant 
efforts of democratic ambition. These considerations, strongly excited 
by the infamous subjugation of Switzerland and of the Papal States, led 
to a o-eneral feeling throughout all the European monarchies of the ne- 
cessity of a coalition to resist the farther encroachments of France. The 
Emperor of Russia evinced his readiness to join in such a confederacy ; 
while the Emperor of Austria, meeting numberless difficulties in adjusting 
with the French government the details of the treaty of Campo Formio, 
virtually dissolved that compact by certain military preparations, which 
were considered equivalent to a declaration of war against France. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1799. 

ALTHOtTGH Austria was, to outward appearance, at peace with France 
after the armistice of Leoben, she had been indefatigable in her exertions, 
since that event, to prepare for a renewal of the war. Her army was 
raised to two hundred and forty thousand men, supported by an immense 
train of artillery, all admirably equipped and ready to take the field. 

The Emperor of Russia embarked warmly in the cause, and ordered 
a Muscovite army of sixty thousand men to begin its march from Poland 
toward the north of Italy ; he also concluded a treaty of alliance, offen- 
sive and defensive, with Great Britain, engaging to furnish an auxiliary 
force of forty-five thousand men, to act in conjunction with the British 
forces in the north of Germany ; and England, on her part, agreed to 
advance two hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds sterling to the 
Emperor, and pay, besides, a monthly subsidy of seventy-fiwe thousand 
pounds. Paul at the same time gave an asylum to Louis XVIII. in the 
capital of Courland, and entertained with munificence the French emi- 
grants who sought refuge in his dominions. But all his efforts failed to 
induce Prussia to swerve from her neutrality : she stood by as an uncon- 
cerned spectator of a strife in which her own independence was at stake, 
when her army, now two hundred and twenty thousand strong, might have 



1799.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 115 

interfered with decisive effect. She was rewarded for her forbearance by 
the battle of Jena. 

Great Britain also exerted herself for the approaching contest. To 
meet the increased expenses which the treaty with Russia and the prose- 
cution of the war were likely to occasion, Mr. Pitt proposed a tax hithei'to 
unknown in Britain, and now designated the Income Tax. It was thus 
graduated : all incomes of less than sixty pounds a year were exempt from 
the impost ; those of less than one hundred and five pounds paid a tax of 
two and a half per cent. ; and those over two hundred pounds, ten per cent. 
The intention of this tax was to require from each person a contribution 
to the wants of the state in exact proportion to his ability ; an admirable 
theory, and, if carried fully into effect, would have gone far toward re- 
lieving the financial embarrassments consequent on the war. The land 
forces of Great Britain were this year raised to one hundred and thirty- 
eight thousand men, the sea force to one hundred and twenty thousand, 
and one, hundred and twenty thousand were embodied in the militia. 

The forces of the Republic were greatly inferior to those of the allies 
at the opening of the campaign. Their numbers were reduced by dis- 
charges and desertions to an unprecedented extent ; their choicest troops 
were exiled in Egypt ; and the officers of the armies in the conquered 
provinces, were so much more intent on political intrigues and rapine than 
on the proper discipline and regulation of the soldiers, that their effective 
strength was much impaired. Nevertheless, the French commenced hos- 
tilities in the^ Grisons with considerable success ; and in a series of actions 
in this quarter, during the month of March, made themselves masters of 
the upper extremity of the two great valleys of the Tyrol, the Inn and the 
Adige. Massena and Oudinot then advanced to Feldkirch, a fortress 
situated on a rocky eminence and commanding the principal passage from 
the Vorarlberg into the Tyrol : but here they met with a serious repulse, 
and retreated with the loss of three thousand men. 

In the mean time, Jourdan opened the campaign on the Rhine, which 
river he crossed at Kehl, and marched thence toward the Black Forest ; 
but learning that the Archduke was approaching with superior forces, he 
moved to a strong position between the Lake of Constance and the Danube. 
The Austrians commenced the attack on the advanced guard of the Re- 
publicans at Ostrach, and were for a time bravely resisted ; but at length 
the French left wing, under St. Cyr, having been outflanked at Mengen, 
Jourdan was forced to retreat with his whole army to Stockach. At this 
place, all the roads to Swabia, Switzerland and the valley of the Neckar 
unite, and Jourdan here made a stand, because by further retreat he would 
have abandoned his communications with Massena and the Grisons. The 
Archduke followed closely the retiring columns of the French, and was 
making his dispositions to attack, when Jourdan resolved to anticipate him 
in that movement. At five o'clock in the morning, on the 26th of March, 
all the French columns were in order of battle, and the left wing, under 
St. Cyr and Soult, was soon engaged with the Austrian right at Liptingen, 
This attack, after an obstinate resistance on the part of the Austrians, was 
successful ; and as their right was turned, the victory seemed to be decided 
in favor of the French. But the Archduke hastened to the scene of danger 
with twelve squadrons of cuirassiers and six battalions of grenadiers, who 
soon changed the fortune of the day. The battle now raged along the 
whole line, each party contesting its ground with the greatest bravery ; 



116 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XV- 

but the Austrians at length succeeded in cutting off the French left wing 
so entirely from the main body, that St. Cyr was forced to retreat across 
the Danube, and trust to his own resources for escape in a hostile country. 
The French centre and right had hitherto maintained their position ; but 
after St. Cyr's discomfiture, they fell back toward the Black Forest. 
Jourdan was so much disconcerted by the result of this action, that, after 
reaching the defiles of the Forest, he surrendered the command of the 
army temporarily to Ernouf, chief of the staff", and set out for Paris to 
inform the Directory of the condition of the troops. 

The Austrians had now an opportunity to overwhelm the French army 
on its retreat, and the Archduke burned with impatience to crush the 
invaders by a decisive blow ; but he was restrained by the injudicious 
measures of the Aulic Council, who forbade his advance toward the Rhine 
until Switzerland was cleared of the enemy. He was therefore compelled 
to put his army into cantonments between Engen and Wahlweis, and the 
French leisurely effected their retreat through the Black Forest. 

While these operations were in progress north of the Alps, events 
equally important were taking place in Italy, where Scherer had been 
placed in command of the French army. This officer had gained some 
distinction in the Alps and Pyrenees, in the campaign of 1795, but he 
was unknown to the Italian army, and possessed the confidence neither 
of his officers nor soldiers. His first movement was upon the Austrian 
camp at Pastrengo, where his left wing and centre were victorious, but 
his right suffered so severely from the Austrians under General Kray, 
that the advantages of the battle were nearly divided between the two 
armies. This occurred on the 26th of March. On the 30th, Scherer 
resolved to attempt the passage of the Adige and push on to Verona ; and 
he ordered Serrurier with seven thousand men to cross at Polo, which 
that general accordingly did, and advanced boldly on the high road lead- 
ing to Trent : but he was attacked by Kray, and defeated with a loss in 
killed and prisoners of nearly three thousand men. Notwithstanding this 
check, Scherer persisted in his design on Verona, and concentrated his 
army near Magnano, where Kray attacked him on the 5th of April. The 
French forces amounted to forty-one thousand men, and the Austrians to 
forty-five thousand. For several hours victory inclined to the Republican 
standard, and the Imperialists were gradually losing ground, when Kray 
brought up a large reserve of artillery and cavalry, who soon drove the 
French from the field. Scherer retreated behind the Tartaro, carrying 
with him two thousand prisoners and several pieces of cannon taken early 
in the action ; but his own loss was four thousand killed and wounded, 
four thousand prisoners, seven standards, eight pieces of cannon and forty 
caissons, which fell into the hands of the Imperialists. 

The Republicans were thrown into the deepest dejection by this defeat: 
they retired on the day following behind the Mincio ; and Scherer, not 
feeling himself in security even there, continued his retreat across the 
Oglio and the Adda. This retrograde movement was performed in such 
haste and confusion that the troops loudly complained of their commander's 
incapacity, and demanded his i-emoval. Their discontent, and that- of all 
France, was further augmented by intelligence of the capitulation of 
Corfu, which surrendered to the combined forces of Turkey and Russia 
on the 3rd of March. 

Massena, who after Jourdan's withdrawal was intrusted with the corn- 



1799.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 117 

mand of the French forces both on the Rhine and in the Alps, now found 
himself under the necessity of taking a defensive position in the Grisons, 
as the defeat of the army of Italy threatened to bring Kray's victorious 
divisions on his flank. He therefore intrenched himself on the line of the 
Limmat and Linth, and established his head-quarters at Zurich. 

The Archduke resumed the offensive by a general attack on Massena's 
whole line, on the 14th of May, which was so far successful that Massena, 
after sustaining a loss of near five thousand men in prisoners alone, was 
forced to retreat from the Grisons and collect his whole force around 
Zurich. The Austrian loss in this movement was only seventy-one men; 
an extraordinary but well-authenticated proof of the advantage of offensive 
operations in mountain warfare, and of the great disasters to which the 
best troops are subjected by being exposed, when acting on the defensive, 
to the loss of their communications by having their positions turned. 

Encouraged by this success, and by the near approach of the Russian 
army, the Archduke issued a proclamation exhorting the Swiss to take up 
arms against their oppressors and cooperate with him in driving them to 
their own frontier. At the same time, he ordered a concentration of all 
his forces, and prepared for a vigorous attack on Massena. The latter 
general, anxious to prevent a junction between Hotze and the Archduke, 
left his intrenchments and attacked the Imperialists' advanced guard at 
Stein. An indecisive action ensued, which, though resulting in favor of 
the French, did not prevent the junction of the Austrian forces ; and the 
following day, the Archduke retaliated on the French columns and drove 
them back to their intrenchments. This repulse of the French centre was 
followed by a defeat of their right wing under Lecourbe; who, being as- 
sailed by a detachment of ten thousand men from Suwarrow's army, was 
forced to abandon the heights of St. Gothard. The Archduke now resolved 
to attack Massena in his almost impregnable position at Zurich ; and, hav- 
ing drawn together the principal part of his forces, pushed them forward 
to the French lines on the 5th of June. A desperate battle took place, 
but Massena maintained his ground against the utmost impetuosity of the 
Austrian assault, and the Archduke was at length compelled to retire with 
a loss of three thousand men. He was not, however, discouraged by this 
failure; and after one day's repose, made his dispositions to renew the 
attack : but Massena, apprehensive of the result, retreated during the night 
to Mount Albis, leaving behind him one hundred and fifty pieces of can- 
non and an immense quantity of warlike stores. 

A few days after the battle of Magnano, Suwarrow, with his Russian 
veterans, joined the Austrian army, which was still encamped on the banks 
of the Mincio ; and the command of the whole devolved on the Russian 
field-marshal. Suwarrow's favorite weapon was the bayonet ; his system 
of war, incessant and vigorous attack ; and the temper of his mind, as well 
as the general character of his tactics, was aptly illustrated by his first 
order to General Chastelar, chief of the Austrian staff*. That officer having 
proposed to reconnoitre the French position, Suwarrow answered hastily : 
" Reconnoitre ! that does not belong to my system : it is of no use but to 
the timid, and to inform the enemy that you are coming. It is never dif- 
ficult to find your opponents when you really wish to find them. No J 
Form column; charge bayonet; plunge into the centre of the enemy — ^that 
is my way to reconnoitre !" 

Moreau, who had superseded Soberer in the command of the French 



118 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XV. 

army, finding his forces reduced by sickness and the sword to twenty-eight 
thousand combatants, retired toward Milan, leaving a large quantity of 
military stores and reserved artillery parks at Cremona, to the allies. 
Suwarrow detached twenty thousand men under Kray to besiege Peschiera 
and blockade Mantua, while he, with the main body of his troops, pursued 
the retreating army of Moreau. On the 25th of April, he reached the 
Adda, and prepared to force a passage across it. Moreau made his dis- 
positions to oppose the passage at what he conceived to be the most exposed 
part of the river ; but while his attention was occupied with the allied 
centre, a detachment of Austrians under General Ott succeeded in con- 
structing a bridge during the night at Trezzo, and passed over the whole 
right wing, while Wukassowich surprised the passage at Brivio. These 
movements were decisive. Grenier's division was driven toward Milan 
with a loss of two thousand five hundred men, and Serrurier, being isolated 
by Wukassowich, and at length entirely surrounded by the allies, was 
forced to surrender with his whole corps, seven thousand strong. Su- 
warrow pressed forward to Milan, and made a triumphal entry there on 
the 29th of April ; while Moreau, having left three thousand men to gar- 
rison the citadel of Milan, evacuated the town, divided the remnant of his 
army into two columns, marched with one to Turin, and dispatched the 
other, under Victor and Laboissiere, toward Alexandria, to occupy the 
approaches to Genoa. 

Suwarrow was now master of all the plains of Lombardy, and at the 
head of an overwhelming force ; but he did not evince that activity in fol- 
lowing up his adversary which might have been expected from the general 
vigor of his character. In the mean time, Kray was gaining ground in the 
rear. Orci, Novi, Peschiera and Pizzighitone surrendered to his arms, 
with a hundred pieces of cannon, twenty gun-boats, a siege equipage and 
immense stores of ammunition and provisions ; which acquisitions enabled 
him to draw closer the blockade of Mantua. 

At length, after giving himself up to the festivities of Milan for more 
than a week, Suwarrow left four thousand men to blockade the citadel of 
that town, and set out for Alexandria. On the night of the 11th of May, 
one of his divisions, under Rosenberg, was defeated in an attempt to cross 
the Po ; and on the day following, an action took place between his ad- 
vanced guard under Bagrathion and the French division of Victor, near 
Alexandria ; when the Republicans, after an obstinate defence, were 
forced to retreat under shelter of the cannon of Alexandria. Moreau now 
ordered Victor to retire to Genoa, while he himself retreated to Turin ; 
whither Suwarrow eagerly pursued him. On the 27th of May, Wukas- 
sowich, with the Russian advanced guard, having by the assistance of the 
inhabitants surprised one of the gates, the allies forced their way into the 
town and the French retreated to the citadel, leaving in the hands of the 
victors two hundred and sixty-one pieces of cannon, eighty mortars, sixty 
thousand muskets, and all the ammunition and stores Avhich had been ac- 
cumulating there since the first occupation of Italy by Napoleon. On the 
same day, Suwarrow received intelligence of the surrender of the citadel 
of Milan ; an event which enabled the besieging force of that fortress to 
join with the army before Mantua, and the artillery was dispatched to 
Tortona, which place was now closely invested. After the capture of 
Turin, Moreau's position became nearly desperate ; but by constructing, 
With herculean labor, a practicable road across the Appenines, he at length 



1799.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 119 

made good his retreat to Loano, where he effected a junction with Victor's 
troops. Thus, in less than three months from the opening of the campaign 
on the Adige, the French standards were driven to the summit of the 
Alps ; the whole plain of Lombardy, excepting a few of its fortresses, was 
regained ; and the conquests of Napoleon were lost to France in less time 
than he had taken to achieve them. 

The' affairs of Naples began to attract attention while these events were 
yet in progress. The exactions of the Directory, the desecration of the 
churches, and the abolition of religious festivals, had of late excited in the 
inhabitants of that kingdom the most lively indignation and horror, and 
insurrections were the immediate consequence. At this juncture, Mac- 
donald, who was in command of the Republican troops at Naples, received 
orders, on the 7th of May, to evacuate the South of Italy and hasten to 
the support of Moreau, in Lombardy. He therefore assembled all his 
disposable forces, and set off for Rome at the head of twenty thousand men ; 
and although his movement was a signal for a general rising on the part 
of the Neapolitans, and his march was harassed by their attacks at every 
step, he reached that city on the 16th, and advanced as far as Lucca by 
the end of the month, without serious loss. 

Macdonald was now in full communication with Moreau, and as their 
united forces amounted to thirty-seven thousand effective troops, thev de- 
termined to resume the offensive, relieve Mantua and Tortona in the first 
instance, and afterward compel the allies to evacuate Lombardy. The 
allied troops at this moment in Italy exceeded a hundred thousand men, 
but they were dispersed over a large surface, and not more than eight-and- 
twenty thousand were assembled at any one point ; so that the project of 
the Republican generals was not without promise of success. Macdonald 
tlierefore pushed on to Modena, where Hohenzollern, with five thousand 
Austrians, was in command, and quickly defeated him with a loss of fifteen 
hundred men. The French general hastened thence to Parma, where 
Ott was stationed with six thousand troops : and he, too, was compel! d to 
make a precipitate retreat. 

The moment that Suwarrow heard of Macdonald's advance, he prepared 
to meet him with an energy befitting the emergency ; and by his great 
exertions and the promptness with which his plans of combination were 
carried out, no less than thirty-six thousand troops were assembled at 
Garofalo on the 15th of June. Macdonald nevertheless pressed forward, 
not knowing the amount of the allied forces, and on the 17th crossed the 
Trebbia and attacked the advanced guard of the Imperialists. This corps 
was soon driven back and pursued until the columns of the main body, 
under Suwarrow, came up, when the French in turn gave ground. Vic- 
tor brought up his division to protect the retreat of the Republicans, who 
retired in good order until the Cossacks charged them in flank ; when, in 
spite of the discipline of the troops and the coolness with which they threw 
themselves into squares to resist the onset of these children of the desert, 
the French ranks were broken and a great part of their division cut to 
pieces. A column of allies pursued the fugitives across the Trebbia, but 
they were repulsed by the French main body ; and here, for the day, the 
combat terminated. The hostile armies bivouacked that night on the same 
ground which, nineteen hundred years before, was occupied by Hannibal 
and the Roman legions. The battle was renewed at six o'clock the fol- 
lowing morning between the troops of Bagrathion and the French left under 



120 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XV. 

Victor, who contested the ground through the whole day, at the close of 
which Victor was driven back with great slaughter. In the course of the 
day, the action became general, but the result was at all points the same. 
The French retired with loss to their former ground, and again the Trebbia 
formed the line of separation between the two armies for the night. On 
the 19th of June, the sun rose for the third time on this scene of slaughter ; 
and at ten o'clock the whole French army, divided into two lines presented 
itself on the opposite side of the river. Suwarrow gave the order to attack ; 
but at the same moment, he saw the first French line advance and throw 
themselves into the stream. Suwarrow awaited their approach ; and, 
after a murderous strife, the Republicans were overwhelmed and driven 
back across the river with great loss. At this moment, Prince Lich- 
tenstein charged the second line, that had advanced to support the first, 
and again the steady valor of the allies prevailed. The French were 
driven back, and the battle was at an end. The total loss on each side 
was about twelve thousand men killed and wounded, but the victory re- 
mained with the allies, as they had constantly defeated the French advance 
and finally retained possession of the field. Macdonald retreated toward 
the Appenines during the night of the 19th of June. 

Early in the morning of the 20th, a dispatch from Macdonald to Moreau 
was intercepted, designating the line of the French retreat; whereupon, 
Suwarrow immediately pushed forward in pursuit. Victor's detachment 
in the rear was soon overtaken, broken, and the greater part made 
prisoners. The Austrian General Melas advanced to Placentia, where 
he made prisoners of the French wounded, five thousand in number, 
including four generals: and at length Macdonald, with a straggling 
remnant of his army, reached Parma, and proceeded thence sloAvly to 
Genoa : while Suwai-row retraced his steps, to press with renewed vigor 
the blockade of Mantua and Tortona. He soon received intelligence of 
the fall of the citadel of Turin, the garrison of which capitulated, June 
20th, on condition of being sent back to France. This was a conquest 
of great importance, as it relieved the besieging force, and enabled it to 
join the main army, besides putting in possession of the allies one of the 
strongest fortresses in Piedmont, with six hundred and eighteen pieces 
of cannon, forty thousand muskets, and fifty thousand quintals of powder. 

Mutual exhaustion, and the intervening ridge of the Appenines, now 
compelled a cessation of hostilities for more than a month, during which 
time both parties were engaged in reorganizing their forces. 

The retreat of Macdonald from Naples, was immediately followed by 
the king's taking possession of his throne, and the deliverance of the 
Neapolitan dominions from the French yoke, which was accomplished 
with the assistance of the British and Russian fleets. The French gar- 
risons of the several fortresses that were forced to surrender, were sent 
home in conformity to the conditions of the capitulation ; but the insurgent 
NiT-apolitans, who acted with the French in accomplishing the Revolution, 
were handed over to a military commission, and executed without mercy. 
A part of these executions were wholly unjustifiable, the insurgents hav- 
ing, in some instances, been expressly included in the capitulations, and 
surrendered on condition of security to their persons and property. But 
on the arrival of the king and his court, on board Nelson's fleet, these 
conditions were annulled, as not having received the royal sanction, and 
Nelson himself concurred with the king in that outrageous decision. 



1799.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 121 

These victims, accordingly, suffered death with the rest ; and their blood 
has left an ineffaceable stain on the character of the British admiral and 
the Neapolitan sovereign. The fate of Prince Francis Carraccioli was 
equally conspicuous and deplorable. He had been one of the principal 
leaders of the Revolution, and, after the capitulation, retired to the 
mountains, where he was betrayed by a servant, and brought on board 
of Nelson's own ship. Here, a court-martial was summoned, and the 
old man was condemned, hung at the yard-arm, and thrown into the sea. 
The blockade of Mantua, which had been maintained with rigor during 
the cessation of hostilities, was now changed to a siege. Trenches were 
opened on the 14th of July ; on the 24th, all the besiegers' batteries were 
brought to bear on the outworks, and the defences of the fortress rapidly 
sunk before the storm of two hundred pieces of -heavy artillery. On the 
30th of July, the garrison, reduced to seven thousand five hundred men, 
surrendered on condition of being sent back to France and not serving 
again until regularly exchanged. The fortress of Alexandria had already 
surrendered to the allies under Count Bellegarde, and Suwarrow, on the 
2nd of August, concentrated his forces around Coni and commenced the 
siege of Tortona, which place at length capitulated on the 11th of Sep- 
tember. In the mean time, however, the French army under Joubert, 
who had been appointed to supersede Moreau, advanced to raise the siege 
of the latter place. His movements showed that he was ill-qualified for 
the command he had assumed, as, in defiance of the advice of his officers, 
he unnecessarily exposed himself at Novi, in a disadvantageous position, 
and with forces inferior to the allies. He was not long in discovering 
his error, but it was too late to repair it, for Suwarrow hastened to attack 
him before he could retreat. The action was commenced by Kray, at 
five o'clock in the morning of the 15th of August; he directed his move- 
ment against the French right, and was followed by Bellegarde and Ott, 
who, severally, attacked the left and centre. The Republicans resisted 
this onset with great bravery, but the allies, nevertheless, were gaining 
upon them on the left, when Joubert, placing himself at the head of the 
wavering line, was struck down by a musket-ball, and expired, crying, 
"Forward, my brave fellows! forward!" Moreau immediately took the 
command, and repaired the confusion that followed the death of Joubert. 
For four successive hours the French stood firm, resisting the reiterated 
attacks of the allies, and repelling them with a steady slaughter, that 
would have discouraged a less resolute commander than Suwarrow. At 
length, when the efforts of both armies were relaxing from fatigue, Melas 
was ordered to charge with the allied reserve on the French right. This 
attack decided the battle. The Republicans were speedily thrown into 
disorder by the onset of fresh troops ; and, although for a time Moreau 
kept his centre steady, to protect a retreat that became inevitable, the 
impetuous assaults of the allies soon converted the retrograde movement 
into a rout: infantry, cavalry and artillery disbanded and fled in tumult- 
uous confusion, and the scattered troops at length rallied at Gavi, only 
because the allies were too much exhausted to continue the pursuit. 
The loss of the allies in this action was seven thousand killed and 
wounded, and twelve hundred prisoners; and that of the French, seven 
thousand killed and wounded, three thousand prisoners, thirty-seven 
pieces of cannon, twenty-eight caissons and four standards. After the 
battle, Suwarrow, in obedience to his orders, detached Kray to the Tessino 



122 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XV. 

with twelve thousand men ; and, on the surrender of Tortona, himself 
followed the same route with seventeen thousand ; while Moreau retired 
into the fastnesses of the Appenines. 

When Zurich surrendered and Massena retreated to Mount Albis, the 
Archduke established the greater part of his forces on the hills which 
separate the Glatt from the Limmat, and placed a line of posts along that 
river and the Aar, to observe the movements of the Republicans. Each 
of the opposing armies in Switzerland numbered about seventy-five thou- 
sand combatants, and both were waiting for reenforcements ; but, as the 
auxiliaries expected by the Archduke under Korsakow were much the 
more important in strength, Massena resolved to assume the offensive 
before that othcer could arrive. At the time that the French commander 
w'as making preparations for this purpose, the Aulic Council gave him 
every facility for success, by insanely ordering the Archduke to depart 
with his veterans for the Rhine ; leaving his position to be occupied by 
Korsakow's Russians, who were yet unskilled in mountain warfare and 
unacquainted with French tactics. It was in vain that the Archduke 
remonstrated against the ruinous policy of this division of forces: he was 
cut short by the court of Vienna with the direction to "execute their will, 
without further objections." 

The result of these movements was what might have been anticipated. 
Massena's troops commenced their march on the 14th of August, and 
made a simultaneous attack on several points of the allied position, in 
every one of which they were successful. The centre was forced back 
almost to Zurich ; the Swiss and Imperialists were expelled from Schwytz ; 
the elevated and important post of Wasen was taken ; the Grimsel and 
the Furca were evacuated : in short, the whole left wing of the allies 
was routed in less than forty-eight hours, with the loss of ten pieces of 
cannon, four thousand prisoners, two thousand killed and wounded, and 
St. Gothard, with all its approaches and lateral valleys, was taken by 
the French. Korsakow now collected his forces around Zurich, and 
dispatched couriers to hasten the advance of Suwarrow, who was coming 
to his aid. Massena, however, resolved to follow up his success before 
the Russian field-marshal's arrival. On the 24th of September, he 
planned two attacks on Korsakow's position ; one a feigned attack on 
Zurich in front, and while drawing the attention of the allies to this 
point, he purposed to cross the river with the bulk of his army farther 
down, where it was slightly defended, and, by turning the allied centre, 
make a simultaneous assault in both front and rear. This plan was 
executed with great precision and ability. While the Russian com- 
mander was steadily resisting the feigned attack in front, and congratu- 
lating himself on an easy victory when he should move forward to secure 
it, he was alarmed, and presently his whole army was thrown into 
confusion, by the French demonstration in his rear. The approach of 
night terminated the contest for the moment, and Massena, fully aware 
of his advantage, summoned the Russian general to surrender: but 
Korsakow, who had formed the desperate resolution of cutting his way 
through the enemy's line, sent no answer to the proposal. 

At daybreak, on the 28th of Sept'r, the allies issued from their in- 
trenchments, and attacked the French divisions on the road to Winterthur. 
The French made an obstinate resistance ; but the allied troops, fighting 
with the courage of despair, were invincible, and soon opened a passage 



1799.1 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 123 

for retreat. Unfortunately, Korsakow, in arranging his column had, in 
defiance alike of common sense and military rule, placed his infantry in 
front, his cavalry in the centre, and his artillery and equipages in the rear. 
He effected a retreat with the infantry and cavalry ; but his whole ar- 
tillery was lost, and Zurich, thus abandoned, speedily surrendered to 
the Republican arms. Korsakow's total loss was eight thousand killed 
and wounded, and five thousand prisoners. Soult, on the same day, made 
a successful attack on the right wing of the allies, under Hotze, in which 
the latter officer was slain, and his division driven across the Rhine, with 
a loss of three thousand prisoners and twenty pieces of cannon. 

Suwarrow, in the mean time, was pressing forward to the assistance of 
Korsakow. On the 21st of September, he arrived at the foot of the moun- 
tains, crested by St. Gothard, where General Gudin was strongly posted 
with four thousand Republican troops. The Russians pushed bravely up 
the steep zigzag ascent, but were arrested by the incessant fire of the 
sharp-shooters, who, posted behind rocks and trees, caused every shot to 
tell on the dense mass of their opponents, while, in return, the Russians 
could make no impression on the scattered and invisible enemy. Irritated 
by these obstacles, the old marshal advanced to the front of his column, 
laid himself down in a ditch, and declared his resolution "to be buried on 
the ground where his children had retreated for the first time." This 
appeal was irresistible. The Russians renewed their march, sustained 
the fire of the French without flinching, and carried the summit of St. 
Gothard at the point of the bayonet. Lecourbe, who was stationed beyond 
this pass with the French reserve, now found his position turned and had 
no alternative but a retreat. He therefore, during the night, threw his 
artillery into the Reuss, and retired down the valley of Schollenen, de- 
stroying the Devil's Bridge to secure his rear. Suwarrow followed close 
upon his steps, renewed the bridge under a storm of artillery and musketry, 
and formed a junction with Auffenberg at Wasen. When the Russian 
commander arrived at Altdorf, however, he learned the news of Korsa- 
kow's defeat ; and as, by Massena's advance, his own line of march was 
interrupted, he was forced to turn and attempt a junction with the Austrians 
by passing through the terrible defile of Shachenthal. No words can do 
justice to the difficulties and perils braved by the Russians in this retro- 
grade movement. They were compelled to abandon their artillery and 
baggage, and march in a single file up rocky paths, almost inaccessible 
to the chamois-hunter. The passage was at length achieved with great 
loss, and Suwarrow arrived at Mutten, where, in conformity to the plan 
of his march, he was to have met two Austrian corps. But the disasters 
of Korsakow had deranged all the combinations on this side of the 
Alps, and the brave Russian chief found himself in an isolated position, 
without artillery and baggage, and surrounded by an overwhelming force. 
He immediately called a council of war, and, following the dictates of his 
own impetuous courage, proposed to advance on Schwytz in the rear of 
the French position at Zurich : but this rash project was overruled by 
his more prudent officers, who at length, and with the utmost difficulty, 
persuaded the veteran conqueror to change his plans, and, for the first 
time in his life, to order a retreat. 

Preceded by the Austrian division of Auffenberg, the Russians now 
ascended Mont Bragel, driving before them the detachments of Molitor, 
who disputed every foot of ground, and finally took post at Naefels, where 



1S4 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XV. 

he resolutely withstood the Russian advance, and resisted all attempts to 
dislodge him. Suwarrow, being thus foiled, changed his line of recreat and 
moved toward the Grisons by Engi, Matt, and the valley of Sernst. This 
route offered difficulties even greater than were encountered in the defile 
of Shachenthal, for in addition to the ordinary perils of the way, a fall of 
snow had just obliterated all traces of the path over the mountains. No 
cottages were to be found in these dreaiy and sterile wastes ; not even trees 
were there to light up the cheerful fires of the bivouac: vast gray rocks, 
rising at intervals above the snow, alone broke the mournful uniformity of 
the scene ; and under their shelter, or on the open surface of the mountain, 
the soldiers were forced to lie down and pass a long autumnal night. But 
nothing could overcome the indomitable spirit of the Russians. They 
struggled on through hardships'that would have daunted any other soldiers, 
and at length the straggling army was rallied in the valley of the Rhine, 
and head-quarters were established at Ilantz, on the 10th of October. 

In the mean time, Korsakow having reorganized his army, halted at 
Busingen, and turned successfully on his pursuers: and the Archduke, 
who since his joining the army of the Rhine had, by a brilliant coup de 
main, taken possession of Manheim, moved forward from that place to 
support the Russian corps. 

This succession of disasters at the close of a campaign that had opened 
so brilliantly, led to an unfortunate jealousy between the Austrians and 
Russians. Each party laid on the other the blame of its defeats, and 
severe recriminations followed. While they were in this state of mind, 
Suwarrow proposed to the Archduke a renewal of offensive operations 
against the French lines, on the banks of the Thur ; to which the Arch- 
duke with reason objected, as an unnecessary exposure of their troops, but 
recommended a joint movement in Switzerland. The old marshal, irri- 
tated at the disapproval of his plan by a younger officer, and soured by 
his late discomfiture, replied in angry terms, that his troops were not 
adapted to any further operation in the mountains ; but that, on the con- 
trary, they needed repose. And he immediately moved them to winter- 
quarters in Bavaria. This event was, in due time, followed by a rupture 
between the cabinets of St. Petersburg and Vienna. 

On the 22nd of June, in this year, a special treaty was concluded between 
Great Britain and Russia, for the purpose of reestablishing the Stadtholder 
in Holland, and terminating the revolutionary tyranny under which that 
country had for some time groaned. Russia agreed to furnish seventeen 
thousand men for the expedition, and England, in addition to sending thir- 
teen thousand troops to act in conjunction with the Russians, was to pay 
forty-four thousand pounds sterling a month, for the support of their allies, 
and sustain the joint operation of these land forces, by the cooperation of 
her navy. The landing of the British troops on the coast of Holland, was 
accomplished on the 27th of August, under cover of the fire of the ships ; 
and Sir Ralph Abercromby, who commanded the army, immediately took 
possession of the fort of the Helder. The British squadron then entered 
the Texel and summoned the Dutch fleet, under Admiral Story, consist- 
ing of eight ships of the line, three of fifty-four guns, eight of forty-four, 
and six smaller frigates. At sight of the British flag, symptoms of insub- 
ordination appeared among the Dutch sailors ; and the admiral, unable to 
escape, and despairing of assistance, surrendered without firing a shot. 

As the Russian troops had not yet arrived, the English commander 



1799.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. fgS 

remained on the defensive, and thus gave the Republicans time to assem- 
ble their forces, to the number of twenty-four thousand, including seven 
thousand French soldiers. General Brune was placed at the head of this 
army, and he attacked the British position on the 10th of September : but, 
after a well contested action, he was repulsed with a loss of two thousand 
men. Soon after this, the Russian contingent, seventeen thousand strong, 
and an English reenforcement of seven thousand joined the British army, 
and the Duke of York assumed the command. Being now in sufficient 
force to warrant offensive operations, the Duke resolved to attack the 
enemy. He moved forward for this purpose, on the 19th of September, 
commencing the action with the Russians on his right wing. These troops, 
however, advanced too rapidly, and fell into some disorder before they 
encountered their antagonists, who, receiving them with great steadiness, 
bore them back at the point of the bayonet. The English centre and left 
were more successful : they had gained on the enemy in every attack, and 
were beginning to feel assured of a complete victory, when the retreat of 
the Russian right wing left their flank uncovered, and forced them to fall 
back to their intrenchments. 

The Duke of York, not discouraged by this repulse, renewed his attack 
on the 2nd of October, at six o'clock in the morning. On this occasion, 
the Russians retrieved their late disgrace by an impetuous onset, which 
carried everything before them ; and, being well seconded by the British 
centre, the Republican position was speedily turned, and Brune retreated 
with a loss of three thousand men and seven pieces of cannon. 

Notwithstanding this victory, the allied army was in a precarious con- 
dition. The autumnal rains had set in with more than usual severity, 
the health of the soldiers began to be seriously affected, and they could 
look for no further reenforcements; while the enemy was gaining daily 
accessions of men, and preparing to resume the offensive with over- 
whelming numbers. Under these circumstances, it became necessary to 
capture some important town, where the allied troops could be comfort- 
ably quartered; and after some deliberation, Haarlem was selected, as 
promising the most easy success. All arrangements being completed, 
the army marched toward that place on the 6th of October; but they were 
met by the Republican forces, and an indecisive action ensued which 
lasted through the whole day. The loss on each side was about two 
thousand men, in killed, wounded and prisoners, and the allied army 
retained possession of the field. But to them, an indecisive action was 
equivalent to a defeat: their object was Haarlem, and they had gained 
nothing but a battle-field. They were therefore forced to retreat to their 
intrenchments, where Brune followed them on the 8th; and, after in- 
vesting their position so that they had no hope of escape, he compelled 
them to capitulate on the 17th of October. By the conditions of the sur- 
render, the allies were to evacuate Holland within six weeks, restore 
eight thousand French or Dutch prisoners, and give up in good order the 
works of the Helder, with its artillery. These conditions v/ere all 
fulfilled before the 1st of December; the British troops returned to Eng- 
land, and the Russians went into winter-quarters in Jersey and Guernsey. 

After Suwarrow withdrew from Italy, in September, the command of 
the Austrian forces devolved on Melas, who, in obedience to the direc- 
tions of the Aulic Council, concentrated his forces around Coni, and be- 
gan the siege of that last bulwark of the Republicans in the plain of 



126 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XVI. 

Italy. Championnet, to whom the French forces were intrusted, attempted 
to raise the siege ; and, for that purpose, made several partial attacks on 
the Austrian outposts, in which he gained considerable advantages. 
Emboldened by this result, he at length resolved on a general action; 
but he committed the capital error, in planning his movement, of dividing 
his army into three columns to attack on three sides an enemy in a cen- 
tral position : thus giving Melas an opportunity to engage any one of his 
divisions with greatly superior forces. The Austrian commander quickly 
seized the advantage thus offered ; and, on the morning of November 
4th, greatly to the surprise of Championnet, who dreamed of nothing on 
the part of the Austrians but defensive operations, he impetuously as- 
sailed the division of Victor, sixteen thousand strong. The French 
troops bravely withstood the attack for a time, but, overpowered by num- 
bers, they at length gave way, and retreated with a loss of seven thousand 
men in killed, wounded and prisoners. Notwithstanding this destruction 
of his centre, and the consequent isolation of his two wings, Championnet 
made great efforts to relieve Coni: but the combinations of Melas were 
an overmatch for his diminished strength, and he was forced to abandon 
his project, and leave Coni to its fate. This stronghold was eventually 
surrendered on the 4th of December, and its garrison of three thousand 
men, with five hundred sick and wounded, were made prisoners of war. 

With two other events, the campaign in Italy was brought to a close : 
these were, the capture of the castle of St. Angelo by the Neapolitan 
forces, and of Ancona by the Russians. By the latter conquest, five 
hundred and eighty-five pieces of cannon, seven thousand muskets, three 
ships of the line and seven smaller vessels fell into the hands of the allies. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

FROM THE REVOLUTION OF SEPTEMBER 3rD, TO THE CAMPAIGN OF 1800. 

The Revolution of France had now run through the several changes 
of universal enthusiasm, general suffering, plebeian revolt, bloody anar- 
chy, democratic cruelty and military despotism. There remained a last 
stage to which it had not yet arrived ; this was, the rule of a single 
DESPOT, a result to which the weakness consequent on exhausted passion 
was speedily bringing the country. 

The election of a new third of the Legislature, in May, 1799, ended in 
a return of members adverse to the government established by Augereau's 
bayonets, who waited only for an opportunity to remove that faction from 
the helm of state. In the Directory, it fell to Rewbell's lot to retire, and 
Sifiyes was chosen in his place. The people of France were already 
sufficiently dissatisfied with the conduct of their precedent rulers, when 
the disasters of the campaign in Italy and the Alps raised their discon- 
tent to exasperation. In the midst of this effervescence, the restraints 
imposed on the liberty of the press could no longer be maintained, and 
the influence of the daily journals was suddenly brought to bear with 
prodigious force against the government. 



1799.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 127 

A conspiracy was soon organized, of which Sifiyes became the head, * 
and a large number of both Councils were its members. By a series of 
intrigues, they managed to displace Lareveillere and Merlin from the 
Directory, and appointed General Moulins and Roger Duces their suc- 
cessors. But these measures, though they placed the government in 
new hands, did not bring to it any accession of vigor or ability. Imme- 
diately after these appointments in the Directory had taken place, news 
was received of the capture of Zurich by the Archduke, and of the suc- 
cess of the allies in Italy ; disasters which rendered it incumbent on the 
Directory to gain favor with the people by some new and decisive effort. 
For this purpose, they made several changes in the commands of the 
army, ordered a conscription of two hundred thousand men to recruit 
their diminished ranks, and levied a forced loan of one hundred and 
twenty millions of francs from the more opulent inhabitants. At the 
same time, as the Jacobins were beginning to make head, and threatened 
serious disturbances, Fouche was appointed minister of police, and his 
energetic measures soon put an end to the intrigues of that dangerous 
party. It was not long, however, before the new Directory grew as un- 
popular as the old one ; and as this state of affairs was greatly promoted 
by the denunciations of the daily journals, which had now become as 
violent in their opposition to the present; as they but recently were to the 
former Directory, a decree was issued for the arrest of eleven of the 
disaffected editors. This bold step again threw the whole country into 
confusion ; and the more reflecting part of the inhabitants began to look 
around in the greatest anxiety, dreading another revolution, and won- 
dering what would be its course and who its master spirit. The Direc- 
tory, too, felt the want of a military chief capable of putting an end to 
these distractions, and of extricating the country from the perils con- 
sequent on the alarming progress of the allies. " We must have done with 
declaimers," said Sieyes; "what we want is a head and a sword." It is 
not strange that, in this emergency, all eyes were at length turned toward 
the youthful hero who had hitherto chained victory to his standards. 

Napoleon, on his return to Alexandria, after his victory over the Turks 
at Aboukir, on the 25th of July, learned the situation of affairs in Eu- 
rope from some newspapers sent on shore by Sir Sidney Smith ; and he 
adopted the extraordinary resolution of abandoning his army to its fate, 
and returning privately to France. Leaving, therefore, Kleber to direct 
the government, he set out from Alexandria, on the 22nd of August, ac- 
companied by Berthier, Lannes, Murat, Marmont, Andreossy, Berthollet, 
Monge and Bourrienne, escorted by a ^q"^ faithful guides. The party 
embarked on a solitary part of the beach, in some fishing boats, which 
conveyed them to two French frigates, lying off the shore. Napoleon 
ordered the ships to be steered along the coast of Africa, in order tliat, if 
pursued by the English cruisers, and no other means of escape were lefl, 
he might land on the deserts of Lybia, and depend on chance for there- 
after reaching Europe. But his voyage, though protracted by adverse 
winds, was successful ; and, after a narrow escape from the English fleet 
near the coast of France, the frigates anchored in the Bay of Frejus, on 
the 8th of October. 

The arrival of Napoleon at this opportune moment, excited the public 
enthusiasm to the highest pitch. His unauthorized and shameful deser- 
tion of the army was overlooked, and all joined, by universal acclamation, 



128 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XVI. 

in hailing him as the destined saviour of his country. He reached Paris 
on the 16th of October, and presented himself unexpectedly before the 
Directory. Their reception of the renowned commander was, to all out- 
ward appearance, extremely cordial and flattering ; yet a vague disquietude 
had already taken possession of their minds, as to his ulterior intentions. 
Napoleon, on his own part, although convinced that the moment he had 
long wished for had arrived, and also fully determined to seize the 
supreme authority, was yet undecided as to the manner of carrying his 
purpose into effect. And, indeed, so general was the conviction, about 
this period, of the impossibility of continuing the government of France 
under the Republican form, that previous to Napoleon's return, various 
projects had not only been set on foot, but were far advanced, for the 
restoration of monarchical authority. The brothers of Napoleon, Joseph 
and Lucien, were deeply implicated in these intrigues : the Abbe Sieyes 
at one time thought of placing the Duke of Brunswick on the throne : and 
Barras was not averse to the restoration of the Bourbons, but was in fact 
negotiating with Louis XVIII. for that purpose. 

No sooner had Napoleon taken possession of his unassuming dwelling 
in the Rue Chantereine, than the generals who had been sounded by Jo- 
seph and Lucien, hastened to pay their court to him ; and with them came 
the officers who conceived themselves to have been ill used by the Direc- 
tory. In addition to Lannes, Murat and Berthier who had shared his 
fortunes in Egypt, and were warmly attached to him, Jourdan, Augereau, 
Macdonald, Bournonville, Le Clerc, Lefebvre and Marbot concurred in 
offering the military dictatorship to Napoleon ; and Morcau, although at 
first undecided, was at length won to the same course by the address of 
his great rival. Many of the most influential members of the Councils 
were also disposed to favor the enterprise : Sieyes and Roger Ducos gave 
it their countenance ; and Moulins, Cambaceres, Fouche, and Real, were 
assiduous in their attendance. These individuals, however, were as yet 
far from agreeing on the precise course to be adopted. 

At length, on the 5th of November, after the conspiracy had been in 
progress for nearly a month, a banquet, under the direction of Lucien 
Bonaparte, was given at the Council- Hall of the Ancients, in honor of 
Napoleon. The feast passed off with sombre tranquillity. Every one 
spoke in a whisper ; anxiety was depicted on each face ; and Napoleon's 
own countenance was greatly disturbed. He soon roge from the table and 
left the Hall, where the chief object of the party had already been accom- 
plished, the bringing together, namely, of six hundred persons of various 
political principles, and thus engaging them to act in unison in some com- 
mon enterprise. In the course of the night, the final arrangements were 
made between Si6yes and Napoleon. It was agreed that the government 
should be overturned, and, in place of the Directory, three consuls ap- 
pointed, charged with a dictatorial power, which was to last three months ; 
that Napoleon, Sieyes and Roger Ducos should fill these stations, and that 
the Council of Ancients should pass a decree on the 8th of November, at 
seven in the morning, transferring the legislative body to St. Cloud, and 
appointing Napoleon commander of the guard of the Council, of the garri- 
son at Paris, and of the National Guard. 

During the two critical days that intervened, the secret was faithfully 
kept, and every preliminary arrangement completed. At daybreak on 
the 8th of November, the boulevards were filled with a numerous and 



1799.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 129 

splendid cavalry, and all the officers in and around Paris repaired in full 
dress to the Rue Chantereine. The Council met at the appointed hour, 
and after some debate, the decree was passed, transferring the seat of the 
legislative body to St. Cloud, appointing their meeting there for the fol- 
lowing day at noon, and charging Napoleon with full powers to see these 
measures carried into effect. This extraordinary decree was then or- 
dered to be placarded on the walls of Paris, and dispatched to all the au- 
thorities. When this was completed. Napoleon presented himself at the 
bar of the Ancients, attended by his staff; he complimented the mem- 
bers on their firmness, which he averred had saved the country, and 
announced his determination to have and to support a republic. A deputy 
attempted to speak in reply, but the president stopped him, on the ground 
that all deliberation was interdicted until the Council met at St. Cloud. 
The assembly then broke up,- and Napoleon proceeded to the garden of 
the Tuileries, where he passed in review the regiments of the garrison, 
addressing to each a few energetic words. The weather was beautiful ; 
the confluence of spectators immense; their acclamations I'ent the sky; 
and everything announced the transition from anarchy to despotic power. 

In the mean time, the Council of Five Hundred, having received a 
confused account of the revolution that was in progress, tumultuously 
assembled in their hall. They were hardly convened when a message 
arrived from the Ancients with the decree of removal to St. Cloud. The 
moment it was read, a number of voices broke forth ; but the president, 
Lucien Bonaparte, cut them short, by referring to the decree which pro- 
hibited debate until after their removal. The Directory was next disposed 
of, by Napoleon's compelling the members to resign. 

On the morning of the 9th, a military force, five thousand strong, sur- 
rounded St. Cloud ; but the Council of Five Hundred were nothing 
daunted, and in their preliminary discussions in the garden of the palace, 
a majority of them resolved to oppose the revolution. The Ancients were 
greatly disturbed at this unexpected resistance, and many of them were 
beginning to regret their own precipitancy, when the hour arrived for 
opening the assembly. 

Lucien Bonaparte was in the chair of the Five Hundred, and Gaudin 
ascended the tribune and commenced a set speech, thanking the Ancients 
for their energetic measures, and proposing the formation of a committee 
of seven persons to report on the state of the Republic. But the moment 
he concluded, a violent opposition arose ; and tumultuous cries of " Down 
with the dictators! Long live the Constitution !" prevented all further 
proceedings. 

Napoleon, who saw the dangerous nature of the crisis, went to the hall 
of the Five Hundred, left his suite and soldiers at the door, and entered 
alone and uncovered. As he made his way to the bar, cries of " Down 
with the tyrant ! death to the dictator !" drowned all other voices ; and 
the deputies, rushing from their places, crowded around and heaped on 
him all manner of personal invectives. At this juncture, two of his grena- 
diers at the door, alarmed for his safety, ran forward, took him in their 
arms and bore him out of the hall. As soon as he was gone, Lucien 
strove to restore order ; but, finding his effoils ineffectual, he resigned 
the chair, and stood before the bar as the counsel of his brother. Just 
as he began to speak, an officer with ten grenadiers entered. The officer 
stepped to Lucien, laid his hand on his shoulder, and whispered, " By 
E 



130 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XVI. 

your brother's orders :" the grenadiers shouted, " Down with the assas- 
sins !" and Lucien left the hall with his guard. 

Meanwhile, Napoleon had descended to the court, mounted on horse- 
back and appealed to the soldiers, assuring them that when he was about 
to point out to the Council the means of saving the country, the deputies 
had answered him with poniards. Lucien soon joined him, corroborated 
his words, and urged the troops to dissolve the Council by force. The 
word was given, the grenadiers advanced with fixed bayonets into the 
hall, and the members of the Council, in dismay, threw themselves out 
of the windows to avoid the charge. At eleven o'clock that night, a por- 
tion of the members of both Councils, not exceeding sixty persons in all, 
assembled, and unanimously passed a decree abolishing the Directory, 
expelling sixty-one refractory members of the Councils, adjourning the 
Legislature for three months, and vesting the executive power in the 
mean time in the hands of Napoleon, Sieyes and Roger Ducos, under the 
title of provisional consuls. Two commissions of twenty-five members 
each, were also appointed from each Council, to unite with the consuls in 
the formation of a new Constitution. Some discussion arose in arranging 
the details of that instrument ; but it ended in the assumption of supreme 
power by Napoleon, as First Consul, associated with two other consuls 
holding nominal authority. To these were added eighty senators, a hun- 
dred tribunes, and three hundred legislators, who forthwith proceeded to 
exercise all the functions of government. Sieyes and Roger Ducos soon 
resigned their offices, and Napoleon appointed in their stead Cambaceres 
and Le Brun. Talleyrand was made minister of Foreign Affairs, Fouche 
was retained in the Police, and La Place received the portfolio of the 
Interior. The new Constitution, on being submitted to the people, was 
approved by three millions eleven thousand and seven votes: that of 1793 
had but one million eight hundred and one thousand nine hundred and 
eighteen ; and that of 1795, one million and fifty-seven thousand three 
hundred and ninety. 

One of Napoleon's first measures, on arriving at the consular throne, 
was to make proposals of peace to the British government, which he did 
through the medium of a letter, in his own name, to the King of England. 
His communication was couched in general terms, expressive, indeed, of 
a desire for peace, but filled with vague questions as to the continuance 
of the war, instead of designating some conditions by which it might be 
brought to a close. Lord Grenville's answer was more explicit, disclaim- 
ing any intention, on the part of his majesty, to control or interfere with 
the internal policy of France, but resolving nevertheless to resist her 
foreign aggressions ; and at the same time avowing a disposition for peace 
whenever the French government should evince a similar desire, accom- 
panied by a declaration of its principles and the requisite proofs of its 
stability. 

The debate on the question of continuing the war was prolonged through 
several weeks in Parliament ; and at length, on the 3rd of February, 1800, 
the belligerent measures of the ministry were sustained by a vote of two 
hundred and sixty-five to sixty-four. This was followed by a vote of sup- 
plies to the army and navy proportioned to the importance of the contest. 

Several domestic measures of consequence, were also adopted during 
this session. The Bank charter was renewed for twenty-one years, in 
consideration of which, the directors made a loan to the government of 



1800.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 131 

three millions sterling, for six years without interest. The union of Ire- 
land with Great Britain, after a stormy debate in both houses of the Dublin 
Parliament, was carried by a large majority, to which event the powerful 
abilities of Lord Castlereagh greatly contributed. By the treaty of union, 
the Irish peers for the united imperial Parliament were limited to twenty- 
eight temporal and four spiritual ; the former elected for life by the Irish 
peerage, and tlie latter, by rotation; and the commoners were limited to 
one hundred. The churches of England and Ireland were united, and 
provision made for their union, preservation, discipline, doctrine and wor- 
ship. Commercial privileges were fairly participated, the national debt of 
each was imposed as a burden on its own finances, and the general expen- 
diture for the next ensuing twenty years, ordered to be defrayed in the 
proportion of fifteen for Great Britain and two for Ireland. The laws and 
courts of both kingdoms were maintained on their present footing, subject 
to such a'lterations as the united Parliament might deem expedient. This 
important measure was carried in the British House of Commons, by a 
vote of two hundred and eight to twenty-six, and in the Lords, by seventy- 
five to seven. 

Since the financial crisis of 1797, when the suspension of specie pay- 
ments took place, the prosperity of the British Empire had been steadily 
and rapidly increasing. Prices of every kind of produce had risen, and 
the industrious classes were, generally speaking, in affluent circumstances. 
Immense fortunes rewarded the efforts of commercial enterprise ; the de- 
mand and value of labor, increased by the withdrawal of nearly four 
hundred thousand soldiers and sailors, was almost unlimited ; and even the 
increasing weight of taxation and the alarming magnitude of the national 
debt, were but little felt amid the general rise of prices and incomes 
resulting from the profuse expenditure and lavish issue of paper by the 
government. One class only, that of annuitants, and all depending on a 
fixed income, experienced a decline of comforts, which in many cases was 
greatly aggravated by the high prices and scarcity following the disastrous 
harvest of 1799. The attention of Parliament was early directed to the 
means of alleviating the famine of that year. An act was passed to lower 
the quality of all the bread baked in the kingdom ; the importation of rice 
and maize was encouraged by liberal bounties ; distillation from grain 
was prohibited, and by these and other means an additional supply of 
grain, to the enormous amount of two and a half millions of quarters, was 
procured for the use of the inhabitants. 

The jealousies which led to a rupture between the Austrians and Rus- 
sians at the close of 1799, were soon after extended to the relations of the 
Emperor Paul with Great Britain, and were greatly augmented by the 
issue of the expedition against Holland. Napoleon promptly took ad- 
vantage of this state of affairs, and sent back to the Emperor all the 
Russian prisoners taken in the last campaign, not only without exchange, 
but newly equipped in their native uniform : and this was followed by a 
succession of civilities and courtesies, between the cabinets of St. Peters- 
burg and Paris, which terminated in the dismissal from Russia of Lord 
Whitworth, the English minister; and the arrival at Paris of Baron 
Springborton, the Russian ambassador. 

The Archduke Charles made great exertions in the close of the year 
1799, to reorganize the military forces of Austria ; at the same time, after 
the secession of Russia was confirmed, he urgently recommended the 
E2 



132 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XVI. 

Aulic Council to take advantage of the present opportunity to conclude a 
peace with France, which Napoleon offered on the basis of the Campo 
Formio treaty. But the Council were bent on prosecuting the war, and 
they went so far as to requite the sound and prudent advice of tlie Arch- 
duke, by dismissing him from the service and appointing Kray in his 
place. 

Napoleon's measures for maintaining the war were befitting his talents 
and energy, and were besides much facilitated by the new regulations, 
which he introduced in the management of the national finances. On 
the conditional refusal of Great Britain to treat for peace, he issued an 
exciting proclamation, telling the people that the English ministry had 
rejected his proposals for peace, and that to attain it, he needed m.oney, 
iron and soldiers ; and he swore that, these being conceded, he would 
combat only for the happiness of France, and the peace of the world. A 
conscription was ordered for the whole youth of France, without any 
exemption on account of rank or fortune, which produced a supply of one 
hundred and twenty thousand men ; and thirty thousand experienced sol- 
diers were gained, in addition, by a demand for all the veterans who had 
obtained leave of absence during the eight preceding years. Various 
improvements were effected in the artillery department, which greatly 
augmented the efficiency of that important arm of the public service. 
Twenty-five thousand horses, brought from the interior provinces, were 
distributed among the artillery and cavalry on the frontier ; and all the 
stores and equipments of the armies were repaired with a celerity so 
extraordinary that it would appear incredible, if long experience did not 
prove, that confidence in the vigor and stability of a government operates 
as rapidly in increasing, as the vacillation and insecurity of democracy 
does in withering the national resources. 

While these energetic measures for conquest were in progress, Napo- 
leon applied himself to ulterior projects, which he had already resolved 
on. He endowed the officers of state, and all the members of the legis- 
lature, with ample salaries ; even the tribunes, who were professedly 
created as barriers for the people against governmental encroachments, 
received each an annual compensation of seventeen thousand francs. He 
also commenced the demolition of all ensigns and memorials, which re- 
called the ideas of liberty and equality : the engraved image of the 
Republic, at the head of official letters, was cancelled ; and the habili- 
ments of authority were replaced by the military dress, so that the court 
of the first magistrate of the Republic bore the appearance of a general's 
head-quarters. These acts were followed by a total suppression of the 
liberty of the press ; and not long after, preparations were made by Na- 
poleon for removing from his place of residence to the Tuileries, which 
was accomplished on the 19th of February, 1800, with great pomp and 
military display. On that day, royalty was, in effect, restored in France, 
somewhat less than eight years after it had been formally abolished by 
the revolt of the 10th of August. No sooner was Napoleon established 
at the Tuileries, than the usages, dress and ceremonial of a court were 
resumed. The anterooms were filled with chamberlains, pages and 
esquires ; footmen, in brilliant liveries, crowded the lobbies and stair- 
cases ; and Josephine presided over the drawing-room, with a grace well 
becoming the brilliancy of the assemblage. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FIRST CAMPAIGN OF 1800. 

At the opening of the campaign of 1800, Field-marshal Kray had his 
head-*quarters at Donauschingen, but his chief magazines were in the 
rear at Stockach, Engen, Moeskirch and Biberach. His right wing, 
twenty-six thousand strong, under Starray, rested on the Maine ; the left, 
consisting of twenty-six thousand men and seven thousand militia, under 
the Prince of Reuss, was in the Tyrol ; and the centre, under Kray in 
person, forty-three thousand strong, was stationed behind the Black For- 
est: while a reserve of fifteen thousand, commanded by Keinmayer, 
guarded the passes from the Renchen to the Valley of Hell, and formed 
the link connecting the centre with the right wing. Thus, although the 
total Imperialist force exceeded one hundred and fifteen thousand men, 
the divisions were stationed at such distances from each other as to be 
incapable of rendering effectual aid in case of need. 

The French army was also divided into three corps. The right, thirty- 
two thousand strong, under Lecourbe, occupied the Cantons of Switzerland 
from the St. Gothard to Bale; the centre, under St. Cyr, consisted of 
twenty-nine thousand men, and occupied the left bank of the Rhine from 
New Brisach to Plobsheim ; the left, under Sainte Suzanne, twenty-one 
thousand strong, extended from Kehl to Haguenau. In addition to these, 
Moreau, who was general-in-chief of the whole force, was at the head of 
twenty-eight thousand men in the neighborhood of Bale. Moreau had also 
at disposal, the garrisons of the fortresses in his vicinity, which together 
might be estimated as a reserve of thirty-two thousand men ; and his pos- 
session of the bridges of Kehl, New Brisach, and Bale, gave him the 
means of crossing the Rhine at pleasure. The plan for opening the 
campaign, as arranged between Moreau and Napoleon, was to make a 
feint against the corps of Keinmayer and the Austrian right ; and, having 
thus drawn Kray's attention to that quarter, to concentrate the French 
centre and left upon the Imperial centre, break through the Austrians' 
line, cut off their communication wiUi the Tyrol and Italy, and force 
them to the banks of the Danube. 

The preliminary movements of this plan were executed with precision, 
and the Austrian generals, perplexed at the apparently contradictory 
character of the French evolutions, were in great uncertainty as to the 
point where the storm was really to burst; and were therefore compelled 
to await it without any material change of position. Under these cir- 
cumstances, Moreau directed Lecourbe to move toward Stockach, and 
separate the Austrian left wing from its centre ; this order was promptly 
executed, and the French general, falling in with an Austrian corps, 
under the Prince of Lorraine, defeated it with a loss of three thousand 
prisoners and eight pieces of cannon. On the same day. May 2nd, Mo- 
reau attacked the main body of Austrians, in the plain before Engen. 
Kray maintained his ground with great resolution until nightfall, when 
the French, being reenforced by St. Cyr, renewed the battle and forced 
the Austrians to retreat. The loss on each side was about seven thou- 
£3 



134 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XVII. 

sand men ; but the advantages of the victory remained with the French, 
by reason of its moral effect on the troops of both armies. 

On the 4th of May, Kray retired to a strong position in front of Moes- 
kirch, the natural and military defences of which place seemed to render 
it almost inaccessible to an attacking army. The French soon advanced 
in great force, preceded by Lecourbe, who, in hastening to form a junction 
with Moreau, arrived on the ground sooner than the designated time. 
He immediately attacked, without waiting for the main army to come 
up ; but he was received with such a storm from the Austrian batteries, 
that he soon fell back, and took refuge in a neighboring wood, to avoid 
the shot. Moreau now approached, and ordered the division of Lorges to 
attack Kray's intrenchments on the left : but this corps, too, was thrown 
into confusion, and routed by the Austrian fire. Encouraged by this 
success, Kray made a sally with his right wing, which was, however, 
promptly repulsed by the French ; and Moreau, following up this advan- 
tage by a simultaneous attack on all points of the Austrian left, pushed 
his columns into the village of Moeskirch, and carried that part of the 
Imperialist position. Kray now withdrew his defeated left wing, and 
bravely maintained the action with his centre and right. Both parties 
redoubled their efforts, but at length the day closed, leaving a part of 
the field in the hands of the Austrians, while the French retained the 
remainder. The loss on each side was about six thousand men. 
' Kray retired across the Danube on the following day, and on the 7th, 
was joined by Keinmayer's division, at Sigmaringen. With this aug- 
mented force, he recrossed the Danube and moved toward Biberach, in 
order to secure the magazines at that place, and transport them to the 
intrenched camp at Ulm. But on the 9th, St. Cyr came up with an 
Austrian detachment at Biberach, and by means of his superior force, 
entirely routed them. Pursuing his success, the French general ad- 
vanced into the town, seized the magazines before the Austrians had time 
to destroy them, and compelled Kray to continue his march upon Ulm, 
where he arrived two days afterward, having lost in this affair at Bibe- 
rach, twenty-five hundred men in killed, wounded and prisoners, and five 
pieces of cannon. 

The Austrian commander, in retiring to Ulm, separated himself from 
his left wing in the Tyrol ; but in other respects he occupied, there, a 
very advantageous position. Its location was central ; its defences were 
nearly impregnable, and daily accessions of strength were coming in 
from Bohemia and the hereditary states: while the French, unable to 
dislodo-e them by a sudden attack, and equally unable to advance into 
the Austrian dominions, leaving such a formidable army in their own 
rear, were brought to a stand, in spite of their previous successes. 

Nevertheless, as it was indispensable to the progress of the campaign 
that Kray should be driven from this stronghold, Moreau devoted all his 
energies to the task. He first divided his forces into three columns, and 
advanced to the Austrian intrenchments on three different points, hoping, 
by distracting the enemy's attention, to find a practicable opening in his 
lines. Kray narrowly watched this movement, and discovered that the 
French division under Sainte Suzanne was so far separated from the 
other two columns as to be precluded from their support. The Archduke 
Ferdinand was therefore dispatched against this corps, and, by an im- 
petuous and brilliant charge, completely routed Sainte Suzanne, and 



1800.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 135 

drove him back in disorder more than two leagues. Moreau, perceiving 
from this vigorous stroke, the danger of dividing his forces, tried the 
expedient of advancing into Bohemia, and occupying Augsburg; in the 
belief that Kray, when he saw his communications thus threatened, 
would abandon his position to maintain them. But Kray, well knowing 
that Moreau would not continue his march in that direction, as he would 
thereby be cut off from his own communications, patiently awaited the 
French commander's return ; a movement which Moreau gladly made, 
as soon as he found that Kray was not deceived by the artifice. At 
length, on the 19th of June, Moreau effected a passage across the Danube 
at Blindheim, and thence took a position at Hochstedt, which induced 
Kray to risk a general action. A short but desperate combat took place, 
in which the Austrians were defeated, and Kray, finding himself out- 
flanked, was compelled to evacuate his intrenchments at Ulm. He left 
a garrison of ten thousand men within its walls, and stationed his cavalry 
on the Brentz to cover his movement ; then, pushing forward his artillery 
and caissons, he followed with the main body of his army in three divis- 
ions, and by a masterly retreat on a semicircular line, of which the 
French occupied the base, he reached Nordlingen in safety on the evening 
of the 23rd of June. He thence moved along the Danube to Landshut, 
where he crossed the river, and finally retreated to Amfing on the Inn. 
Moreau left a detachment to invest Ulm, and with his main body occu- 
pied Munich. On the 15th of July, intelligence arrived of Napoleon's 
operations in the south, which led to a suspension of arms under the ap- 
pellation of the armistice of Parsdorf ; and for the present the campaign 
in this quarter was at an end. By this subsidiary treaty, hostilities were 
terminated in all parts of the Empire, and were not to be resumed with- 
out a notice of twelve days. 

The military operations in Italy were commenced by a formidable 
attack on the French defensive positions around Genoa, led on by Melas, 
with near sixty thousand Austrian troops. This beautiful city was pro- 
tected by a double line of strong fortifications, extending through the 
heights of the Appenines, that surround it, and the Imperialists every- 
where met with the most determined opposition from the French covering 
army: but Melas, aided by superiority of numbers, and the advantage 
which is inseparable from the initiative in mountain warfare, prevailed 
on every point. Soult, on the French right, was driven in from Monte- 
notte upon Genoa ; Savona, Cadebone, and Vado, were occupied by the 
Austrians, and the Republican left, under Suchet, was altogether de- 
tached from the centre and thrown back toward France. Hohenzollern, 
who was intrusted with the attack of the Bochetta, drove the French far 
up that important pass, and succeeded in retaining the crest of the moun- 
tains; while Klenau, on the Austrian left, advanced in three columns up 
the narrow ravines leading to the eastern fortifications of Genoa, dis- 
lodged the French from the heights of Monte Faccio, and invested the 
forts of Quizzi, Richelieu, and San Tecla, within cannon-shot of Genoa. 

The situation of the French was now extremely critical, more especially, 
as a large and influential part of the inhabitants were attached to the 
cause of the Imperialists, and ardently desired to throw off" the democratic 
tyranny to which for four years they had been subjected. But Massena 
was not easily daunted. On the 7th of April, he sallied from the town, 
and attacked the Austrians on Monte Faccio with such vigor, that they 



136 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XVII. 

were dislodged and driven from their posts with a loss of fifteen hundred 
prisoners. On the same day, however, the Imperialist right was greatly 
strengthened at Vado and St. Jaques, and the French were threatened 
with more serious evils in that quarter. Massena soon found that his 
partial success at Monte Faccio would be of little avail for the protection 
of Genoa, and he resolved on a more serious attack in the direction of 
Savona. Accordingly, he organized his forees for that purpose, and a 
series of desperate actions ensued, which continued during fifteen days ; 
but in the event, he made no impression of consequence on the Austrians, 
and was driven back to the to\vn with a loss of seven thousand men in 
killed and wounded. Melas now o'-ganized a strict blockade of Genoa, 
and marched against the French left wing under Suchet, Avho had long 
been separated from the main army, but continued to maintain a position 
where he threatened the right of the Imperialists. He withstood the 
Austrian assault for a time at the Col di Tende, but on the 6th of May^ 
he was forced across the frontier and over the Var, with a loss of more 
than three thousand men. After this event, nothing remained to the 
French of their conquests in Italy but the ground which was commanded 
by the cannon of Genoa. 

The Austrians pressed the siege of Genoa with redoubled vigor, while 
the British fleet, maintaining a rigid blockade of the harbor, shut out all ' 
hope of relief from the sea ; so that the garrison and inhabitants soon be- 
gan to suffer for want of provisions. For a few days, Massena desisted 
from offensive operations, repaired the injury done to his defences, and 
established a system for the equal and economical distribution of his sup- 
plies ; but as the condition of the garrison was rapidly growing worse, he, 
on the 13th of May, resolved to break up the position of the besiegers by a 
powerful attack on Monte Creto. Soult led the Republican columns, and 
at first the Austrians began to give way ; but, rallying under the support 
of Hohenzollern's reserve, they drove the French back into the town, taking 
a large number of prisoners, and Soult himself among the number. 

With this repulse, Massena relinquished all efforts to raise the siege, 
and the horrors of famine and pestilence soon reduced the garrison to the 
last extremity. Finding, at length, that it was impossible to hold the 
place, Massena, on the 5th of June, surrendered Genoa to the Austrians, 
and was permitted to march out with his troops, artillery, baggage and 
ammunition. The favorable terms granted to Massena, and the facilities 
afforded him by the Austrians and the English fleet in expediting his de- 
parture, were soon explained by the intelligence of Napoleon's advance 
to Milan, of which the Austrian commander was aware previously to his 
agreeing to the capitulation. 

Napoleon, at the opening of the campaign, hesitated whether to unite 
himself with Moreau in Germany, or Massena in Italy ; but the decided 
success which accompanied the movements of the former commander, soon 
rendered the First Consul's aid unnecessary on the Rhine, and he therefore 
turned his attention to Italy, where the Austrians we're victorious. In 
order to advance by the shortest route, and pursue a march that would place 
his army on the weakest point of the Austrian lines, he resolved to cross 
the Alps by the Great St. Bernard, and sent his engineers to explore the 
passage. When Marescot returned from the survey, he began to enume- 
rate the dangers of the attempt ; but Napoleon interrupted him, by say- 
ing, " Is it possible to pass ?" " Yes," answered Marescot, " but with great 



1800.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 137 

difficulty." "Let us set out, then," said Napoleon; and on the 9th of 
May, preparations were begun for the ascent. 

A hundred large fir-trees were provided, each so hollowed as to contain 
a piece of artillery ; the carriages of the guns were taken to pieces and 
placed on the backs of mules ; and the ammunition was dispersed among 
the peasants, who, induced by the large rewards offered them, arrived from 
all quarters to aid in the enterprise. On the 16th of May, Napoleon slept 
at the convent of St. Maurice, and on the following morning the army be- 
gan to ascend the mountain. The march continued through four days, 
and during each, from eight to ten thousand men passed along. Napoleon 
remained at St. Maurice until the 20th, when the whole had crossed. 
The march, though toilsome, presented no extraordinary difficulties, till 
the leading column arrived at St. Pierre : but from that village to the sum- 
mit, it was painful and laborious in the highest degree. A hundred men 
were harnessed to each gun, and they were relieved every half mile; the 
soldiers vied with each other in dragging their load up the rugged track; 
and it soon became a point of honor for each column to prevent its cannon 
from falling behind. To encourage their efforts, the band of each regiment 
played the most lively airs, and, where the ascent was particularly steep, 
the charge was sounded : while the men, toiling painfully up and ready 
to sink under the weight of their arms and baggage, joined their voices to 
the noise of the instruments, making the solitudes of St. Bernard resound 
with the strains of military music. 

At length, the leading files reached the hospice at the summit, where, by 
the provident care of the monks, each soldier received a ration of bread 
and cheese and a draught of wine, as he passed ; a most seasonable supply, 
which exhausted the ample stores of the establishment ; but the liberality 
was amply compensated by the First Consul before the termination of the 
campaign. 

Lannes, who commanded the advanced guard, descended rapidly the 
beautiful valley of Aosta, occupied the town of that name, and overthrew, 
at Chatillon, a body of fifteen hundi'ed Croatia.ns, who endeavored to dis- 
pute his passage. The soldiers, finding themselves in a level and fertile 
valley, believed their difficulties were all passed, when suddenly their ad- 
vance was checked by the cannon of Bard. This fort, perched on a pyra- 
midal rock midway between the opposite cliffs of the valley, and not more 
than fifty yards distant from the base of either side, commands the narrow 
road that winds around its feet, and is beyond the reach of any attack other 
than regular approaches. The cannon of the fort, twenty-two in number, 
were so disposed on its well-constructed bastions as to reach not only every 
point of the road through the village below, but apparently every path on 
the mountains practicable for a single traveller. 

When Lannes became aware of this formidable obstacle he advanced to 
the front of his column, and ordered an assault on the village ; this was 
quickly carried by the French grenadiers, but the Austrians retired in 
good order to the rock above, whence the garrison of the fort poured an 
incessant fire on every column that attempted to pass. In a moment, the 
march of the whole army was arrested ; the alarm extended rapidly along 
the line from front to rear, and it seemed to be necessary to retreat over 
the mountains. Napoleon was at St. Bernard when this intelligence 
reached him. Fie instantly pushed forward, and with his spy-glass long 
and minutely surveyed the ground. After a time, he discovered that it 



138 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XVIL 

was possible for the infantry to pass by a path along the face of the cliffj 
above the range of the guns of Bard ; but it was wholly impracticable for 
artillery. 

In this extremity, he summoned the fort to surrender, and threatened an 
instant assault in case of refusal ; but the Austrian commander replied as 
became a man of courage and honor, that he was well aware of the im- 
portance of his position, and that the means of defending it were in his 
power. Time now pressed, and almost every one was in despair ; but the 
genius and intrepidity of the French engineers surmounted the difficulty. 
The infantry and cavalry traversed, one by one, the path which Napoleon 
had discovered on the side of the mountain ; and in the night, the artil- 
lery-men moved their cannon gradually through the village, and close 
under the guns of the fort, by spreading straw and manure over the streets 
and wrapping the wheels, so that scarcely any sound was made by their 
transportation. In this manner, forty guns and a hundred caissons were 
conveyed beyond the reach of the fort, while the Austrians above, in un- 
conscious security, were sleeping beside their loaded cannon. During 
the following night, the same hazardous operation was repeated with equal 
success : and although the Austrian commander wrote to Melas that 
thirty-five thousand men and four thousand horse had defiled along the 
cliffs, but that not one piece of artillery should pass beneath his guns, the 
cannon and ammunition of the French army were in fact safely proceed- 
ing on the road to Ivrea. The passage was completed on the 26th of 
May, and on the 28th, the whole of the Republican forces, with their 
artillery reached Ivrea, which place Lannes had already taken with the 
advanced guard. 

While the centre of Napoleon's army was thus surmounting the 
obstacles of St. Bernard, his right and left wings were equally successful 
in the movements assigned to them. Thurreau, with five thousand men, 
descended to Susa and Novalese ; Moncey, with sixteen thousand crossed 
the St. Gothard, and Bethencourt with a division of Swiss troops ascended 
the Simplon and forced the defile of Gondo. Consequently, more than 
sixty thousand men wei*e assembling in the plains of Piedmont, and threat- 
ened the rear of the Imperial army. 

Napoleon directed his troops rapidly toward the Ticino, and reached 
the banks of that river on the 31st of May. The arrival of so great a 
force in a quarter where they were wholly unexpected, threw the Aus- 
trians into the utmost embarrassment ; and a general retreat, on their 
part, was the first consequence of the French advance. On the 2nd of 
June, the First Consul made a triumphal entry into Milan ; where he 
instantly dismissed the Austrian authorities, and reinstated the Republican 
magistrates ; but, knowing that the chances of war might expose his par- 
tisans to severe reprisals, he wisely forbade any harsh measures against 
the vanquished party. The entrance into Milan was followed by a gene- 
ral submission of the towns in Lombardy. 

Melas, on learning the progress of the French army, concentrated his 
forces at Alexandria with all possible expedition ; while Napoleon hast- 
ened on to assail the detached columns of the Austrians before they could 
effect a junction witli each other. Lannes first came up with a body of 
fifteen thousand men advantageously posted at Montebello, under the com- 
mand of Ott. His own corps numbered but nine thousand ; but as Victor 
with a similar force was only two leagues in his rear, he did not hesitate ta 



1800.] , HISTORY OF EUROPE. 139 

attack. The French infantry with great gallantry advanced in echellon, 
under a fire of grape-shot and musketry, to storm the hills on the right of 
the Austrian position ; but after making a temporary lodgment, they were 
driven whh great slaughter down into the plain. The Imperialists fol- 
lowed up this success with an attack on the French centre, and the 
Republicans were there beginning to waver, when the arrival of Victor 
enabled the broken divisions to rally, and the contest was maintained for 
some hours, without advantage to either party. Napoleon, at length, 
came on with the division of Gardaune, and decided the battle. Ott, how- 
ever, retreated in good order, leaving behind him three thousand killed 
and wounded, and fifteen hundred prisoners : the French loss, in killed 
and wounded, was nearly the same. 

While Napoleon was thus driving the Austrians before him, Suchet, 
with the left wing of the army of Genoa, had made a stand against the 
pursuing Imperialists under Elnitz, and, by an impetuous attack on the 
banks of the Var, forced him, in turn, to retreat ; after which, by a skilful 
combination of movements and attacks, he at length drove him to Ceva, 
with a loss of one half of his whole corps. 

These operations rendered the situation of Melas highly critical. Na- 
poleon was in his front, Suchet in his rsar, the Alps on the left, and the 
Appenines on the right: he had no hope of escape but by cutting his way 
through Napoleon's army ; and, with the resolution of a brave man, he 
adopted this alternative. While he was vigorously concentrating his 
forces for the enterprise. Napoleon, anticipating the movement, had for 
some days awaited his approach at Stradella, where Desaix arrived from 
Egypt with his aids-de-camp, Savary and Rapp, on the 11th of June. In 
the belief that the Austrian commander was not likely to attack him in 
his present strong position, he resolved to give battle to Melas on his own 
ground ; for which purpose he advanced to the plains of Marengo, on the 
13th, and made his dispositions for the combat. The Austrian army 
amounted to thirty-one thousand men, including seven thousand five hun- 
dred cavalry ; and the French were twenty-nine thousand strong. 

By daybreak on the 14th of June, the whole force of Melas was in mo- 
tion, advancing in three columns over the bridges of the Bormida, toward 
the French position. Napoleon was surprised. He had been induced to 
believe during the night, that Melas intended to retreat; and he had not, 
therefore, the slightest anticipation of his commencing the attack : nor was 
he prepared to receive it, for his right wing was near half a day's march 
jn the rear. At eight o'clock, the Austrian infantry, under Haddick and 
Kaim, preceded by a splendid array of artillery, commenced the battle. 
They speedily overthrew Gardaune, who, with six battalions, was sta- 
tioned in front of the village of Marengo ; and, following on, encountered 
the corps of Victor and Lannes. Here, for two hours, the battle raged with 
the utmost fury. The opposing masses wei'e within pistol-shot of each 
other, and all the chasms produced by the incessant discharge of artillery 
were rapidly filled up by a regular movement to the centre : but at length, 
the perseverance of the Austrians prevailed over the heroic devotion of 
the French ; the village was carried ; the stream that traversed it, forced ; 
and the Republicans were driven back to their second line in the rear. 
Here they made a desperate stand, and Haddick's division, disordered by 
success, was in turn forced back across the stream ; but the French could 
not follow up their advantage, and the Austrians, perceiving their weak- 



140 HISTORYOFEUROPE. . [Chap. XVIL 

ness, returned to the charge, and Victor's line was broken. Thus en- 
couraged, Melas pushed on with additional forces, established himself in 
the village, and having outflanked Lannes, he, too, was compelled to 
retreat. At first, he retired by echellon in squares, with admirable dis- 
cipline ; but the Imperial cavalry, which swept like a tempest around 
the retreating troops, at length disordered their squares, while the Hunga- 
rian infantry, halting at every fifty yards, poured in destructive volleys, 
at point-blank range, and the incessant storm of grape from the well-served 
Austrian artillery, completed the rout. The whole mass at length gave 
way ; the plain was covered with a confused host of fugitives ; the alarm 
spread even to the rear of the army ; and the fatal cry " tout est perdu, 
sauve qui pent," echoed over the field. 

Matters were in this condition, when, at eleven o'clock, Napoleon 
arrived with a detachment of the right wing. The sight of his staff, sur- 
rounded by two hundred mounted grenadiers, and accompanied by the 
Consul's own guard of reserve, revived the spirit of the fugitives. Napo- 
leon immediately detached eight hundred grenadiers of his guard, to make 
head against Ott ; at the same time, he himself advanced with a demi- 
brigade to support Lannes, and sent five battalions under Monnier, ta 
hold in check the Austrian light infantry on the left. The grenadiers 
advanced in squares into the midst of the plain, making their way through 
both their own fugitives and the enemy, and for a time they sustained the 
brunt of the battle ; but at length, the steady fire of the Austrian artil- 
lery, followed up by a charge of hussars, broke their ranks, and drove 
them back in disorder; the leading battalions of Desaix's division, how- 
ever, came forward in time to cover their retreat. Melas now, deeming 
the victory secure, retired to Alexandria, leaving Zack, chief of his stafi^ 
to follow up his success: while Napoleon made arrangements to secure 
a retreat by the line of Castel Nuovo. 

It was now four o'clock ; and Desaix's main body, being the French 
right wing, made its appearance. " What do you think of the day ?" 
said Napoleon. " The battle is lost," answered Desaix ; " but it is early ; 
there is time to gain another one." Napoleon coincided with this opinion, 
but all the other officers advised a retreat. The combat was, therefore, 
to be renewed ; and Desaix put himself at the head of his division, and 
pressed on to meet Zack's advancing columns, who, expecting no resist- 
ance, were at first thrown into disorder. They soon rallied, however, 
checked the French advance, and at this moment Desaix was mortally 
wounded by a ball in the breast. The Hungarian grenadiers pressed on, 
and the French column soon hesitated, broke, and gave way. At this 
critical moment, when everything seemed lost for Napoleon, Kellerman, 
by a sudden movement, conceived and undertaken by himself, changed 
the defeat into a victory. He was stationed with eight hundred cavalry 
in a vineyard, where the overhanging vines concealed him from sight ; 
and the advancing column of Zack, having just broken Desaix's division, 
was following up its success, and marching past Kelleinnan's squadron 
without being aware of his presence. In an instant, Kellerman dashed out 
on the unprotected flank of this column, threw it into inextricable confu- 
sion in less time than is requisite to relate the fact ; and, being supported 
by Desaix's division, which immediately rallied, made Zack himself, and 
two thousand of his grenadiers prisoners on the spot. The remainder of 
the column retreated in confusion, overturned those who were advancing 



1800.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 141 

to its support, and the entire Austrian army became, in those few moments, 
one mass of fugitives, flying across the plain. 

The tide of battle being thus suddenly and unexpectedly turned, it 
was easy to rally the broken French divisions, and secure the victory. 
The loss of the Imperialists was seven thousand killed and wounded, 
three thousand prisoners, eight standards and twenty pieces of cannon. 
The French sustained an equal loss in killed and wounded, together with 
one thousand prisoners taken in the early part of the day. But although 
the losses on both sides were so nearly equal,defeat was highly disastrous 
to the Austrians ; for they fought to secure a passage through Napoleon's 
enveloping masses, and having failed, they were left without retreat; so 
that, by a single victory, Napoleon had in effect destroyed his enemy, 
and gained the command of Italy. Nor was that all : for such a result, 
coming at the outset of his career as First Consul, served to fix him per- 
maiiently on the throne of France. 

In view of these brilliant consequences, one would suppose that Napo- 
leon might have been generous to Kellerman, who in reality and directly 
secured them : but his was a disposition that could not pardon one whose 
services chanced to diminish the lustre of his own exploits. When this 
young officer appeared at head-quarters after the battle, Napoleon coolly 
said, " You made a good charge this evening ;" then turning to Bessieres, 
he added, " The guard has covered itself with glory." " I am glad you 
are pleased with my charge," said Kellerman, nothing daunted, " for it 
has placed the crown on your head." But the obligation was too great 
and too notorious to be forgiven. Kellerman was not promoted like the 
other generals, and never afterward enjoyed the favor of Napoleon. 

On the following morning, after holding a council of war, Melas 'sent 
a flag of truce to the French head-quarters, with proposals for a capitula- 
tion. An armistice was immediately agreed upon, until an answer could 
be received from Vienna ; and, in the mean time, the Imperial army v^^as 
to occupy the country between the Mincio and the Po, and the fortresses 
of Tortona, Milan, Turin, Pizzighitone, Arona, Placentia, Ceva, Savona, 
Urbia, Coni, Alexandria and Genoa were to be surrendered to the French, 
with all their artillery and stores, the Austrians taking with them only 
their own cannon. _ 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SECOND CAMPAIGN OF 1800. 

Two days before intelligence was received of the battle of Marengo 
and the armistice that followed it, a treaty between Austria and Great 
Britain for the further prosecution of the war had been signed at Vienna : 
but even the disasters of that defeat could not shake the firmness or good 
faith of the Austrian cabinet. The inflexible Thugut, who then presided 
over its councils, was assailed by representations of the perils of the Em- 
pire ; but he opposed all such arguments by producing the treaty with 
England, and pointing out the disgrace that would attach to the Imperial 



142 ^ HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XVIII. 

government if, on the first appearance of danger, engagements so solemnly- 
entered into were to be abandoned. Nor did the situation of affairs justify 
any measures of despondency. If the battle of Marengo had deprived 
the allied powers of Piedmont, the strength of the Imperial army was still 
unbroken : it had exchanged a disadvantageous offensive position in the 
Ligurian mountains, for an advantageous defensive one on the frontiers 
of Lombardy ; the cannon of Mantua, so formidable to France in 1796, 
still remained to arrest the progress of the victor ; and the English 
forces of Abercromby, joined to the Neapolitan troops and the Imperial 
divisions in Ancona and Tuscany, might prove too formidable a body on 
the right flank of the Republicans, to permit any considerable advance 
toward the hereditary states. Nor were affairs by any means desperate 
in Germany. The advance of Moreau into Bavaria, while Ulm and In- 
golstadt were not reduced, was a perilous measure for the French ; and 
the line of the Inn furnished a defensive frontier not surpassed by any in 
Europe. 

Influenced by these considerations, the Austrian cabinet resolved to 
gain time, and, if they could not obtain tolerable terms of peace, to run 
all the hazard of a renewal of the war. Count St. Julien was sent to 
Paris, as plenipotentiary on the part of Austria, bearing a letter from the 
Emperor individually, in which were these words : " You will give credit 
to everything which Count St. Julien shall say on my part, and I will 
ratify whatever he shall do." In virtue of these powers, preliminaries 
of peace were signed at Paris, on the 28th of July, by the French and 
Austrian ministers. The treaty of Campo Formio was taken as the basis 
of the pacification, unless where changes had become necessary. It was 
provided that the frontier of the Rhine should belong to France, and the 
indemnities stipulated for Austria, by the secret articles of the treaty 
of Campo Formio, were to be given in Italy, instead of Germany. 

As the treaty was signed by Count St. Julien in virtue of the Emperor's 
letter only, it was further provided that these preliminary articles should 
not be binding until after being ratified by the respective governments : a 
clause of which the cabinet of Vienna availed themselves. On the 15th 
of August, the Austrian plenipotentiary was recalled, and notice given 
of the refusal to ratify. , 

Napoleon was, or affected to be, highly indignant at this proceeding, 
and he immediately announced that the conclusion of the armistice should 
take place on the 10th of September, and ordered certain movements of 
the army in reference to that event. But he soon returned to more mode- 
rate sentiments, and dispatched full powers to M. Otto, resident at London 
as agent for the exchange of prisoners, to conclude a naval armistice with 
Great Britain. The object of this proposal, hitherto unknown in European 
diplomacy, was to obtain means, while the negotiations were pending, 
of throwing supplies into Egypt and Malta, the former of which stood 
greatly in need of assistance, while the latter was reduced to the last 
extremity from the vigilant blockade maintained for two years by the 
British cruisers. 

As soon as the English government received this proposal, they signified 
their desire for a general peace, but declined to agree in the mean time 
to a naval armistice, until the preliminaries of such general pacification 
were signed. Napoleon, however, was obstinately bent on saving Malta 
and Egypt, and insisted on the naval armistice as a sine qua non; declaring, 



1800.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. I43 

that unless it were agi-eed to before the 11th of September, he would 
recommence hostilities in both Italy and Germany. The urgency of 
the case, and the imminent danger that would ensue to Austria if war 
were so soon renewed, induced the cabinet of London to make some con- 
cession : they therefore presented to M . Otto a counter project for a sus- 
pension of hostilities between all the belligerent powers. By this it was 
proposed, that an armistice should take place by land and sea, during 
which the ocean was to be open for the navigation of trading vessels of 
both nations ; Malta and Egypt were to be put on the same footing as the 
besieged fortresses in Germany, by the armistice of Parsdorf ; that is to 
say, they were to be provisioned for twelve days at a time, during the 
dependence of the negotiations. The blockade of Brest and other mari- 
time ports was to be raised, but the British squadrons would remain off 
their entrances, and ships of war would not be permitted to pass. Nothing 
could be more equitable toward France or generous toward Austria, than 
these propositions. They compensated the recent disasters of the Impe- 
rialists on land with concessions by the British at sea, and abandoned to 
the vanquished on one element, those advantages of a free navigation 
which they could not obtain by force of arms, in consideration of the 
benefits that would accrue from a prolongation of the armistice to their 
allies on another. 

Napoleon, however, insisted on a condition which ultimately proved 
fatal to the negotiation. This was, that the French ships of the line only 
should be confined to their ports, but that frigates should have liberty of 
egress, and that six vessels of that description should be allowed to go 
from Toulon to Alexandria without being visited by the English cruisers. 
This condition was inadmissible, and the negotiation was broken off. 
The Austrian cabinet, being now left to contend alone with Napoleon, 
were in no condition to resist his demands* A new convention was there- 
fore concluded at Hohenlinden, on the 28th of September, by which the 
cession of the three German fortresses, Ulm, Philipsburg and Ingolstadt, 
was agreed on, and the armistice was prolonged for forty-five days, both 
in Germany and Italy. 

As soon as it became evident that Great Britain would not accede to 
the First Consul's demands, the portfolio of the French war department 
was placed in the hands of Carnot, and every exertion made to put all the 
armies in a condition to resume hostilities. On the same day that this 
took place, October 8th, a plot to assassinate Napoleon at the opera was 
discovered by the police. Cerachi and Demerville, the leaders of the 
conspiracy, and both determined Jacobins, were arrested and executed. 

It was not long before the French armies were in a very formidable 
condition. In addition to a corps of fifteen thousand under Macdonald at 
Dijon, and one of twenty thousand on the Maine under Augereau, the 
army of Italy was raised to eighty thousand men, and the grand army 
under Moreau in Bavaria to one hundred and ten thousand. Austria, 
too, foreseeing the result of the negotiations for peace, had made good use 
of the armistice to recruit and reorganize her forces, having raised her 
entire German army to one hundred and ten thousand men ; though its 
efficiency was greatly impaired by the usual system of the Aulic Council, 
which caused the troops to be scattered too much in detail over the coun- 
try ; and also by their injudicious removal of Kray, and the substitution 
in his place of the young Archduke John. In Italy, the total force under 



144 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XVHI. 

Field-marshal Bellegarde amounted to one hundred thousand men ; but 
it was so subdivided that not more than sixty thousand could be assem- 
bled at any one point. Renewed efforts were made at this time to engage 
Russia and Prussia in the common cause ; but they both declined to 
interfere. 

In the middle of September, the garrison of Malta, having been entirely 
reduced by famine, capitulated, on condition of being sent to France and 
not serving again until regularly exchanged : this noble fortress, therefore, 
with its unrivalled harbor and impregnable walls, was permanently 
annexed to the British dominions. The English also made themselves 
masters, in the course of this year, of Surinam, Berbice, St. Eustache 
and Demerara, Dutch settlements in the West Indies and on the main 
land adjoining them. 

After the death of Pope Pius VI., through the cruelty and tyranny of 
the French government, the Roman conclave made choice of Cardinal 
Chiaramonte as his successor, with the title of Pius VII. Rome at this 
time was suffering under the exactions of the recently recovered power 
of the King of Naples, and the new pontiff, without openly engaging in a 
war, lent a willing ear to the proposals of Napoleon. But in other parts 
of Italy, a feeling of entire hostility to France prevailed; and in Tuscany 
an insurrection broke out among the peasants, which was promptly sub- 
dued, and with great cruelty, by the French troops. The army employed 
on this service was afterward dispatched to Leghorn, where they seized 
and confiscated forty-six English vessels with their cargoes. 

In the month of November, Napoleon announced the conclusion of the 
armistice, and on the 28th of that month, both parties were prepared to 
commence hostilities. The line of the Inn, behind which the Austrians 
were intrenched, is one of the strongest frontier positions in Europe ; and 
the true policy of the Imperial forces, at this time, was to remain on the 
defensive, but the Aulic Council decided on carrying the war into Bava- 
ria ; and accordingly, the Austrian columns were moved to Landshut on 
the 29th ; and as it chanced, Moreau, unaware of their march, was at 
the same time advancing toward Ampfing on such a line as to bring the 
flank of his left wing in immediate contact with the main body of the 
Imperialists. The consequence was, that despite the utmost efforts of 
Ne}^, Grenier and Legrand, the division was totally routed, and, falling 
back in confusion on the centre, spread terror and discouragement through 
the whole army. Had this success been vigorously followed up, there 
can be no doubt that Moreau would have suffered an overwhelming 
defeat. But the Archduke John, satisfied with his advantage, allowed 
the French troops to recover from their consternation ; and on the follow- 
ing day, they retired in good order through the forest of Hohenlinden to 
the ground beyond, which Moreau had previously studied as the probable 
theatre of a decisive battle, and where he now defended his position with 
great care and skill. 

The Archduke, after having thus allowed the enemy to escape when 
he might have taken him at advantage, resolved now to pursue him ; not 
imagining that Moreau had made a stand, but indulging the belief that 
he was retreating in disorder. On the 3rd of December, long before day- 
light, his whole army was in motion in three columns, and they plunged 
into the forest, trampling the yet unstained snow in full confidence of 
victory. From the outset, however, the most sinister presages attended 



1800] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 145 

their steps. During the night, the wind had changed, and the heavy- 
rain of the preceding day turned into snow, which fell in such thick 
flakes as rendered it impossible to see twenty yards before the head of 
the columns; while the dreary expanse of the forest, under the boughs, 
presented a uniform white surface where the roads could not be distin- 
guished. The cross-paths between the roads, bad at any time, were 
almost impassable in such a storm; and each division, isolated in the 
snowy wilderness, was left to its own resources without receiving intel- 
ligence or aid from its associates. 

The central column, which advanced along the only good road, out- 
stripped the others, and its leading detachments had traversed the forest 
and approached the village of Hohenlinden about nine o'clock in the 
morning. It was there met by the division of Grouchy, and a furious 
conflict immediately commenced. The Austrians endeavored to debouch 
with their main body from the defile, and extend themselves along the 
front of the wood ; while the French strove to drive them back into the 
forest. Both parties made the most heroic efforts ; the falling snow at 
first prevented the troops of the opposing lines from seeing each other, 
but tliey aimed at the flashes which appeared through the gloom, and 
rushed forward with blind fury to the deadly charge of the bayonet. 
Gradually, however, the Austrians gained ground, and their ranks were 
extending themselves in front, when Grouchy and Grandjean, by leading 
on fresh battalions, forced them to retire into the wood. Here, the combat 
was maintained hand to hand among the trees and thickets with invincible 
resolution. 

In the mean time, the other columns had advanced by different roads 
to more remote parts of the field, and were warmly engaged in the battle. 
The right was assailed by Ney as it began to defile on tliat side from the 
forest, and it was driven back by such an impetuous charge that its 
ranks were broken, and the whole mass retired with a loss of eight 
pieces of cannon and a thousand prisoners. A similar fate awaited the 
left wing, which, being attacked by Grenier, was forced to retreat with 
still greater loss. Moreau was keeping the Austrian centre in check by 
a series of assaults with fresh detachments, when the defeat of both wings 
of the Archduke's army not only spread confusion into the main column, 
but, by disengaging a part of Ney's and Grenier's divisions, enabled him 
to bring an overwhelming force against the only corps of Imperialists 
that yet maintained its ground. Soon after this accumulation of strength 
began to be felt in front, the rear of the same column was assailed by 
Richepanse with two regiments of infantry. This combined attack was 
decisive. The Imperialists broke and fled in every direction, leaving 
more than a hundred pieces of cannon, and fourteen thousand men, killed, 
wounded and prisoners, on the field. 

The Archduke retired with his shattered forces during the night behind 
the Inn, where he made a show of defence ; but Moreau soon crossed the 
river lower down than the Austrian position, and the Imperialists, being 
thus outflanked, again retreated and took post behind the Alza, to cover 
the roads leading to Salzburg and Vienna. But Moreau found, from 
the manner of the Archduke's retreat, that the spirit of the Austrian 
troops was broken; and he continued his pursuit, with a determination of 
destroying the whole army before it could recover from its disasters. He 
therefore hastened on to Salzburg, where his advanced guard became 



146 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XVUI. 

enveloped in a thick fog ; and before Lecourbe, who led the attack, was 
aware of his danger, his corps was charged by a large body of Imperial 
horse, and routed with a loss of two thousand men. The affairs of the 
Archduke were, however, in too desperate a condition to be relieved by 
this partial success, and he retreated in the night, leaving Salsburg to 
its fate. Decaen took possession of it in the morning, and, for the first 
time, the Republican standards waved on the picturesque towers of that 
romantic city. 

The same day, Richepanse continued the pursuit, and on the 16th he 
overtook the Austrian rear at Herdorf, where he routed them with the 
loss of a thousand prisoners. For the next two days, he kept up a run- 
ning fight, at the end of which the Austrians reached Schwanstadt, and 
endeavored to make a stand against their inveterate pursuers. Still, all 
was in vain. Nothing could resist the impetuosity of the French troops, 
and the Imperialists, again defeated with great loss, continued their flight. 

Atfairs were in this disastrous state, when the Archduke Charles, to 
whom the nation unanimously appealed as the only means of saving the 
monarchy, arrived, and took command of the army. But when he 
reviewed the troops as they crossed the Traun, his experienced eye told 
him that little was to be hoped from their exertions: they were but a 
confused mass of infantry, cavalry and artillery: their discipline was 
lost ; the men neither grouped around their standards nor listened to the 
voice of their officers ; dejection and despair were painted in every 
countenance. The Archduke, perceiving that resistance was hopeless, 
reluctantly dispatched a messenger to Moreau, soliciting an armistice; 
which, after some hesitation on the part of the French general, v/as 
signed on the 25th of December. 

Before these events were brought to a conclusion in Germany, Macdon- 
ald was ordered to march his army of fifteen thousand men across the 
Alps, into the Italian Tyrol, by the passage of the Splugen. He arrived 
with his advanced guard at the village of that name, on the evening of 
the 26th of November, accompanied by a company of sappers, and the 
sledges containing his artillery. In the morning of the 27th, he com- 
menced the ascent. The country guides placed poles along the route ; 
the laborers followed and removed the snow, and the dragoons came next, 
to trample down the road with their horses' feet. In this manner, a de- 
tachment had, with great fatigue, nearly reached the summit; when the 
wind suddenly rose, an avalanche slid down the mountain, crossed the 
path and swept away thirty dragoons from the head of the column, into 
the abyss below, where they were dashed to pieces between the ice and 
the rocks. General Laboissiere, who led the van, was a little in advance 
of the dragoons ; he therefore escaped the avalanche, and proceeded in 
safety to the hospice above : buttheremainder of the column, thunderstruck 
by such a catastrophe, returned to Splugen. The wind continued to blow 
with great violence for the three succeeding days, and detached so many 
avalanches, that the road was entirely blocked up ; and the guides declared 
that no eflforts could render it passable in less than two weeks. Macdon- 
ald, however, was not to be daunted by such obstacles. Independently 
of his anxiety to fulfil his designated part in the campaign, necessity re- 
quired him to proceed ; for the unwonted accumulation of men and horses 
in these Alpine regions, promised soon to consume the whole substance 
of the country, and expose the troops to destruction from famine. He 



1800.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 147 

consequently, made the best arrangements within his control, to reopen 
the passage. Four strong oxen were first sent along the route, led by 
experienced guides : these were followed by forty robust peasants, who 
cleared or beat down the snow ; two companies of sappers came next and 
improved the path ; and behind them rode the dragoons. A convoy of 
artillery, a hundred beasts of burden, and a strong rear-guard closed the 
march. Many men and horses were overwhelmed by the snow, and not 
a few perished from cold ; but at length, the hospice was gained, the 
descent on the other side achieved, and the advanced guard of the army 
reached the sunny fields of Campo Dolcino, at the southern base of the 
mountain. On the 5th of December, Macdonald commenced the passage 
with the remainder of his army ; and on the 7th, he reached Chiavenna 
with his whole force. 

But the difficulties of this enterprising commander did not terminate 
here : for his subsequent orders required him to penetrate into the valley 
of the Adige, by the route of Mont Tonal, on the summit of which ridge, 
after encountering all the perils of the ascent, he found his road barred 
by a corps of Austrian troops, posted behind a triple line of intrenchments. 
He advanced against this new obstacle with great intrepidity, and foi-ced 
two of the lines ; but the third resisted every effort, and he was compelled 
to retrace his steps down the mountain. He now made a circuit to reach 
his destination in the Tyrol ; which, after a series of hardships, he at 
length accomplished on the 6th of January. All the operations in this 
quarter, however, were brought to an end by an armistice, agreed upon 
between the armies, at Treviso, on the 16th of the same month. By the 
conditions of this armistice, the Austrians were to surrender Peschiera, 
Verona, Legnago^ Ancona and Ferrara ; but they retained Mantua, the 
chief object of the campaign. Napoleon was so irritated at these terms, 
that he never again intrusted an important command to Brune, by whom 
they were conceded. 

As the French troops were now disengaged from all other enemies in 
Italy, Napoleon directed a corps to advance on Naples, with the avowed 
intention of dismembering that kingdom. And this he would readily have 
accomplished, but for the heroic exertions of the Neapolitan queen, who, 
immediately after the battle of Marengo, anticipating such an invasion, 
set off alone from Palermo, and made a journey to St. Petersburg, where 
she implored the intervention of the Russian Emperor. Paul, whose 
chivalrous character was highly flattered by this adventurous step on the 
part of the queen, espoused her cause, and dispatched a special messenger 
to treat with Napoleon in her behalf. It may be presumed that, desirous 
as Napoleon was of maintaining a good understanding with Russia, this 
mediation was entirely successful ; and the First Consul, abandoning his 
hostile purposes, concluded a treaty with Naples, on the 9th of February. 
By this compact, known as the treaty of Foligno, it was provided that 
the Neapolitan troops should evacuate the Roman States, and that all the 
ports of Naples and Sicily should be closed against English and Turkish 
vessels of merchandise, as well as war, and remain shut until the conclu- 
sion of a general peace ; that port Longone in the island of Elba, Piom- 
bino in Tuscany, and a small territory on the sea-coast of that duchy, 
should be ceded to France ; and that in case of a menaced attack on the 
Neapolitan dominions, from the troops of Turkey or England, a French 
corps, equal in strengh to one that the Emperor of Russia might send, 



148 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XIX. 

should be placed at the disposal of the King of Naples. Under the words 
of this last condition, was veiled the most important article of the treaty ; 
for, being speedily carried into effect, it revealed the intention of Napo- 
leon to take military possession of the whole peninsula. On the 1st of 
April, before either any requisition had been made by the King of Naples 
or any danger menaced his dominions, a corps of twelve thousand men, 
under the command of General Soult, set out from the French lines and 
took possession of the fortresses of Tarentum, Otranto, Brindisi, and all 
the harbors in the extremity of Calabria. The object of this obtrusive 
occupation was to facilitate the establishment of a communication with 
the army of Egypt. 

As a consequence of the armistice granted to the Archduke Charles in 
Germany, and that agreed upon with Brune at Treviso, negotiations for 
peace were entered into between Austria and France, which ended on 
the 9th of February, in the treaty of Luneville. The conditions of this 
treaty did not materially differ from those of the treaty of Campo Formio, 
or from those offered by Napoleon before the opening of the campaign : a 
remarkable fact, Avhen it is considered how great an addition the victories 
of Marengo and Hohenlinden had since made to the preponderance of the 
French arms. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

FROM THE PEACE OF LUNEVILLE TO THE DISSOLUTION OF THE NORTHERN 
MARITIME CONFEDERACY. 

The various alternations of war, peace and neutrality that were now 
occurring between the different powers of Europe, led naturally to much 
discussion and controversy on the subject of maritime law, and the rights 
of merchant ships trading from neutral to belligerent countries. Under 
a strict construction of the law of nations, and without at all violating 
the provisions of that code, numerous seizures and conhscatioas had been 
made by the British government, which revived the jealousies of the 
other European states, at the almost unlimited power of the English navy. 
In December, 1799, an altercation took place in the Straits of Gibraltar 
between some British frigates and a Danish ship, in which the Dane 
refused to submit to a search of the vessels under his convoy: but 
eventually, the government of Denmark formally disavowed the conduct 
of their captain, and the amicable relations remained unchanged. But 
the next collision of a^ similar character, led to more serious results. On 
the 2.5th of July, 1800, the commander of the Danish frigate Freya re- 
fused to allow his ships to be searched, but offered to show certificates to 
the British officer, specifying the nature of the cargoes under his charge : 
and he intimated, that if a boat were sent to make search it would be fired 
upon. On receiving this reply, the British captain laid his vessel along- 
side the Dane ; and, as the latter persisted, he discharged a few broadsides 
at the Freya, took possession of her and the ships under her convoy, and 
carried them into the Downs. 



1800.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 149 

At tTie same time, the English cabinet had learned that hostile negotia- 
tions were in progress between the Northern courts relative to neutral 
rights ; and deeming it probable that these would end in a declaration of 
hostile intentions, they wisely resolved to anticipate an attack. For this 
purpose. Lord Whitworth was sent on a special message to Copenhagen ; 
and, to give greater weight to his arguments, a squadron of nine sail of 
the line, four bombs and five frigates was dispatched to the Sound, under 
the command of Admiral Dickson. The Admiral found four line-of- 
battle ships moored across the str^t from Cronenberg Castle to the Swe- 
dish shore ; but the English fleet passed without the commission of any 
act of hostility on either side, and came to anchor off Copenhagen. The 
Danes were employed in strengthening their fortifications ; batteries 
were erected on advantageous points near the coast, and three floating 
bulwarks were stationed at the mouth of the harbor ; but their prepara- 
tions were incomplete, and the strength of the British squadron precluded 
the hope of a successful resistance. An accommodation was therefore 
entered into, the principal conditions of which were, that the frigate and 
merchant vessels carried into the Downs, should be repaired at the ex- 
pense of the British government, and the question of right of search 
adjourned to London, for further consideration. In the mean time, 
Danish trading ships were to sail with convoy only in the Mediter- 
ranean, where it was necessary to guard against the Barbary cruisers, 
and their other vessels were to be liable, as before, to search. 

This treaty was, under the circumstances, a triumph to Great Britain ; 
and it would have led to no disastrous consequences, but for the interfer- 
ence of the Emperor of Russia. The Northern Autocrat had been greatly 
irritated at the ill-success of the expedition to Holland; he was further 
exasperated at the refusal of the British government to include Russian 
prisoners with English, in the exchange with the French ; and finally, the 
taking possession by England of Malta — which fortress Paul, as Grand- 
master of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, felt bound to restore to that 
celebrated order, while at the same time he knew that England would 
not relinquish it — excited him to open hostility and outrage. He 
instantly ordered an embargo on all British ships in the Russian harbors; 
and thereby detained nearly thi'ee hundred vessels with valuable cargoes, 
until the frost had set in and rendered the Baltic impassable. Nor was 
this all. The crews of these vessels, with Asiatic barbarity, and in 
defiance of the usages of civilized states, were marched off into prisons in 
the interior, some of them a thousand miles from the coast ; and all the 
English property on shore was put under sequestration. When these 
orders were promulged, several British ships at Narva weighed anchor, 
and escaped the embargo : this so enraged the Autocrat, that he com- 
manded the remaining vessels in the harbor to be burned, and published 
a declaration that the embargo should not be removed until Malta was 
given up to Russia. 

The moment that Russia thus made common cause with the other 
Northern powers, Prussia and France threw their influence into the scale, 
and brought about a general maritime confederacy, hostile to Great 
Britain, which was signed by Russia, Sweden and Denmark, on the 16th 
of December, 1800. By this treaty, the contracting parties proclaimed 
that free ships made free goods ; that the flag covered the merchandise ; 
and that a port is to be considered under blockade, only when such a force 



150 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XIX. 

is stationed at its mouth as renders an entrance dangerous. They fur- 
ther declared, that the certificate of a captain of a convoy that no contra- 
band goods were under his charge, should relieve his vessels from search ; 
and that if any of the parties to this convention should be dealt with 
otherwise than in conformity to its enactments, the other parties would 
make common cause with the party aggrieved, and aid in its defence. 

As it was manifest, that if this new code of maritime law were recog- 
nized, all the victories of the British navy would be fruitless — since 
France, by means of neutral vessels«could regain her whole commerce, 
import all the materials for the construction of a navy, and educate a 
body of sailors to man her ships of war, when so constructed — Mr. Pitt 
resolved on such measures of reprisal, as would show the Northern pow- 
ers the qualities of the nation they had thought fit to provoke. On the 
14th of January, 1801, the British government issued an order for a gen- 
eral embargo on all vessels belonging to any of the confederated powers; 
and letters of marque were granted for the capture of the numerous ves- 
sels belonging to those states. The House of Commons sustained Mr. 
Pitt's measures by a vote of two hundred and forty-five to sixty-three, and 
the result was, that nearly one half the merchant ships at sea, belonging 
to the Northern powers, found their way into the harbors of Great Britain. 

The union of Ireland with England, from which such important 
results were anticipated, proved a source of weakness to the British 
Empire at this important crisis. By a series of concessions, which com- 
menced soon after the coronation of George III. and continued through 
his reign, the Irish Catholics had been placed nearly on a level with 
their Protestant fellow-subjects, and they were at length excluded only 
from sitting in Parliament, and from holding about thirty of the principal 
offices in the state. When, however, Mr. Pitt carried through the great 
measure of Union, he gave the Catholics reason to expect, that a removal 
of all disabilities would follow : not, indeed, as matter of right, but of 
grace and favor. When the time arrived, he found himself unable to 
redeem his tacit pledge. It was ascertained, that the removal of the 
Catholic disabilities involved many fundamental questions in the Consti- 
tution: in particular, the Bill of Rights, the Test and Corporation Acts ; 
and, in general, the stability of the whole Protestant Church establish- 
ment. It was, besides, discovered, when the measure was brought for- 
ward in the cabinet, that the king entertained scruples of conscience on 
the subject, in consequence of his oath at the coronation, " to maintain 
the Protestant religion established by law." Under these circumstances, 
Mr. Pitt stated that he had no alternative, but to resign his office. On 
the 10th of February, it was announced in Parliament, that the cabinet 
ministers held the seals only until their successors were appointed ; and 
soon after, Mr. Pitt, Lord Grenville, Earl Spenser, Mr. Dundas and Mr. 
Windham resigned, and were succeeded by Mr. Addington, then Speaker 
of the House of Commons, as First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Hawkes- 
bury, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a new ministry taken entirely 
from the Tory party. 

It has long been the practice of the administrations of Great Britain, not 
to resign on the question which directly occasions their retirement, but to 
select some minor point, which is held forth to the world as the real ground 
of the change : and this custom is attended with the great advantage, of 
not implicating the crown or the government in a collision with either 



1801.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 151 

House of Parliament. From the fact, therefore, of Mr. Pitt's having so 
conspicuously designated the Catholic Question as the reason of his with- 
drawing, it is more than probable that this was not the true cause : or, 
that if it were, he caught at the impossibility of any further concessions to 
the Catholics of Ireland as a motive for resigning, to prevent the approach 
of other and more important questions which remained behind. There was 
no necessity for bringing forward the Catholic claims at that moment, nor 
any reason for breaking up a cabinet at a period of unparalleled public 
difficulty, merely because the king's scruples prevented them from being 
at that time conceded. But the question of peace or war was in a very 
different situation. Mr. Pitt could not disguise from himself that the coun- 
try was now involved in a contest, apparently endless, if the principles on 
which it had so long been conducted were rigidly adhered to. Hence, as 
it was possible, perhaps probable, that at no distant period England might 
be driven to an accommodation, to which arrangement the maintenance 
of his system would prove an obstacle, Mr. Pitt retired with the leading 
members of his cabinet and was succeeded by inferior adherents of his 
party, who, without departing altogether from his principles, might feel 
more at liberty to adapt them to the pressure of actual circumstances. 
In doing this, the English minister acted the part of a patriot. " He sacri- 
ficed himself," said Bignon, "to the good of his country and a general 
peace. He proved himself to be more than a great statesman — a good 
citizen." 

But, though Mr. Pitt retired, his mantle fell on his successors, who, in 
their measures toward foreign States, evinced neither vacillation nor 
timidity. They provided, for both the army and navy, larger appropria- 
tions than had been made in any previous year since the commencement of 
the war : and they had need of all the resources of the nation, for the forces 
of the maritime league were extremely formidable. Their united strength 
amounted to twenty-four ships of the line ready for sea, which, in a few 
months, could with ease have been raised to fifty, besides twenty-five 
frigates ; a fleet which, combined with the Dutch ships, might have raised 
the blockade of the French harbors and enabled the confederated powers 
to ride triumphant in the British Channel. As yet, however, the hostile 
fleets were not concentrated, and England resolved to strike a decisive blow 
in a vulnerable point, before her enemies could combine for her destruction. 

In the beginning of March, a squadron was assembled at Yarmouth, 
consisting of eighteen ships of the line, four frigates and a number of bomb 
vessels; in all, fifty-two sail. Sir Hyde Parker was placed at the head 
of the fleet, and Nelson received the appointment of his second in com- 
mand. The admiral set sail on the 12th of March. Soon after putting 
to sea, the Invincible struck on one of the sand banks of that dangerous 
coast, and sunk wiih a part of her crew. On the 27th, Sir Hyde arrived 
off" Zealand and dispatched a letter to the governor of Cronenberg Castle, 
to inquire whether the fleet would be allowed to pass the Sound. The gov- 
ernor replied, that he could not allow a squadron to approach the guns of 
his fortress until'the intentions of its commander were declared : and the 
British admiral rejoined, that he considered such answer equivalent to a de- 
claration of war. By the earnest advice of Nelson, it was resolved to force 
the passage, and the line was formed accordingly. Nelson's division led 
the van, Sir Hyde's followed in the centre, and the rear was commanded 
by admiral Graves. When the leading ships came within range, the bat- 



152 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap, XIX. 

teries from the Danish shore opened their fire ; and, as the vessels were 
steered through the middle of the channel, they began to suffer consider- 
able injury ; but Nelson, observing that the batteries on the Swedish side 
of the Sound were silent, changed his direction, and, by running along 
that shore, was enabled to pass almost without the reach of the Danish 
guns. The passage occupied four hours; and, about noonday, the fleet 
came to anchor off the harbor of Copenhagen. 

The garrison of this city consisted often thousand regular troops and a 
larger number of volunteers. Six ships of the line and eleven floating- 
batteries, besides a great number of smaller vessels, were moored in an 
external line to protect the entrance of the harbor, and those were flanked 
on either side by two islands called the Crowns, each mounting about sixty 
heavy guns. Within these powerful defences, four ships of the line were 
moored across the harbor, and a fort of thirty-six heavy guns had been 
constructed on a sand-bar to support them. The fire of these formidable 
out-works crossed with that of the batteries on the island of Amack and 
the citadel of Copenhagen ; and it seemed impossible that an attacking 
squadron could, for any length of time, endure so heavy and concentric a 
discharge. Besides, the channel, by which alone the harbor could be ap- 
proached, was extremely intricate and little known to the British pilots : 
the water on either side of the channel was shoal and intersected with bars, 
and the buoys that marked the true course had all been removed. Indeed, 
the danger of the navigation was so great, that a day and night were oc- 
cupied by the boats of the fleet in making soundings, and in endeavoring 
to replace the buoys. 

The approach to the Danish exterior line was covered by a large shoal 
called the Middle Ground, exactly in front of the harbor and distant from 
it three-quarters of a mile. As this shoal was impassable for ships of 
any magnitude, Nelson proposed to pass around it by the King's channel 
with a detachment of twelve ships, and lay them between the Danish line 
and the entrance of the harbor ; while Sir Hyde Parker, with the remain- 
der of the fleet, was to menace the Crown batteries and the four Danish 
ships on the inner line, and also lend his aid to such of Nelson's squadron 
as might come disabled out of the action. The small craft, headed by 
Captain Riou, led the way, accurately threading a dangerous and winding 
course between the island of Saltholm and the Middle Ground ; the larger 
ships followed, coasting along the outer edge of the shoal, doubled its far- 
ther extremity, and cast anchor just at sunset off Draco Point, not more 
than two miles from the right of the enemy's line. The signal to prepare 
for action was made, and the seamen passed the night in anxious expecta- 
tion. At daybreak on the 2nd of April, the wind was found to be fair, and 
all the captains received their final instructions. 

The action began at a few minutes past ten, and was general by 
eleven. Nine only of the line-of-battle ships could reach the stations 
allotted to them, three others having run aground ; and, in consequence, 
Captain Riou, with his frigates, was compelled to confront the Crown 
batteries. The cannonade soon became tremendous ; "more than two 
thousand guns poured forth their thunder within a space not exceeding 
half a mile in breadth, and the fleets were wrapped in a huge mass of 
smoke and flame. The firing continued for three hours without any 
apparent diminution on either side, but at length, the discharges from the 
Danish fleet began to slacken; loud cheers from the English sailors 



1801.J HISTORY OF EUROPE. 153 

announced the surrender of the enemy's ships, as they successively low- 
ered their flags ; and before two o'clock, the whole outer line of defence 
was either taken or destroyed. The loss of men in this desperate action 
was very severe ; that on the side of the British amounting to twelve 
hundred, and of the Danish, including prisoners, to six thousand. Of the 
vessels taken, one only, the Holstein, of sixty-four guns, was brought to 
England ; the remainder werfe so far injured, that it was deemed advis- 
able to sink them after their capture. A negotiation immediately fol- 
lowed the battle, which, though protracted by the Danish government 
on account of their fears of Russia, was at last concluded in an armistice 
for fourteen weeks, during which the armed Danish vessels were to remain 
in their present position, and the prisoners and wounded immediately 
sent ashore, and placed to the credit of England in case of a renewal 
of hostilities. 

On the same day that the British fleet forced the passage of the Sdund, 
the Prussian cabinet made a formal demand on the regency of Hanover, 
to permit the occupation of the Electorate by the Prussians, and disband 
a part of their own forces. As this proposal was supported by an army 
of twenty thousand men, the Hanoverian government was compelled to 
submit ; and Hanover, Bremen and Hameln were occupied accordingly. 
At the same time, the Danes took possession of Hamburg and Lubec, so 
as to close the mouth of the Elbe against English commerce : and, on 
the other hand, a British squadron, under Admiral Duckworth, reduced 
all the Swedish and Danish islands in the West Indies. 

While everything thus announced the commencement of a war with 
the Northern powers, an event occurred which altered the whole aspect 
of affairs; this was, the death of the Emperor Paul, which took place on 
the 23rd of March. His son, Alexander, succeeded to the throne, and a 
total change of policy ensued on the part of the cabinet of St. Petersburg. 
The administration of Paul was a season of misrule and tyranny, 
owing in part to the impetuosity of his temper ; and, of late, to a partial 
insanity, which was evinced in a variety of ways. The leading nobles 
of Russia, disapproving his policy, and foreseeing that it would bring 
permanent injury and disgrace on the Empire, formed a conspiracy to 
compel him to abdicate the crown, and the plot was so far communicated 
to Paul's two sons, the Grand-dukes Alexander and Constantine; but no 
intimation was given them that the conspiracy would endanger their 
father's life: the young princes, however, very reluctantly consented to 
the measure, although they were forced to admit its necessity; and 
Alexander, in particular, yielded to the arguments of the nobles, only 
on condition that no personal violence should be exerted in the proceed- 
ing. The nobles had, nevertheless, resolved on Paul's death, as the 
only method of attaining security for the government; and they assas- 
sinated him at night in his bed-chamber. 

The new Emperor, on the day succeeding his elevation to the throne, 
proclaimed his intention of governing according to the maxims and system 
of his august grandmother, Catherine ; and one of his first acts was an 
order for the liberation of the British sailors, who had been taken from 
their ships and carried into prisons in the interior of the country : these 
men were therefore immediately conducted, at the public expense, to the 
ports from which they had severally been taken. At the same time, all 
prohibitions against the export of com were removed ; a measure of no 



154 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XIX. 

small importance to the famishing population of the British Isles, and 
hardly less material to the well supplied proprietors of Russian grain. 
The young Emperor soon after wrote a letter, with his own hand, to the 
King of England, expressing, in the warmest terms, his desire to reestab- 
lish the amicable relations of the two countries ; a declaration that was 
received with shouts of joy both in London and St. Petersburg. 

The British cabinet at once dispatched Lord St. Helens to the Russian 
capital ; and, soon after his arrival, he signed a treaty, as glorious to 
England as it was confirmatory of the correctness of her views in regard 
to the right of search. By this convention it was provided, that the 
search "of merchant ships belonging to one of the contracting powers, 
and navigating under convoy of a ship-of-war of the same power, shall 
be exercised only by ships-of-war of the belligerent party, and shall 
never extend to the fitters-out of privateers or other vessels which do not 
belong to the imperial or royal fleets of their majesties, but which their 
subjects may have fitted out for war; that the effects on board neutral 
ships shall be free, excepting contraband of war and enemies' property ; 
and it is agreed not to comprise in the number of the latter, the merchan- 
dise of the produce, growth or manufacture of the countries at war, which 
shall have been acquired by the subjects of the neutral power, and shall 
be transported for their account." The articles contraband were spe- 
cified to comprise all arms and materials of war, excepting such as were 
necessary for the defence of the ship and crew ; and a port was declared 
to be blockaded only when, by reason of the disposition and strength of 
the ships maintaining such blockade, there was danger in entering the 
harbor. By this treaty, the right of search was placed on its true footing, 
being divested of the accompaniments most likely to occasion irritation 
in neutral vessels, and not stipulated in favor of either party as a new 
right, but recognized as a privilege already existing, necessarily inherent 
by the practice of maritime states in every belligerent power, and sub- 
jected to such restraints as the enlarged experience of mankind had 
proved to be beneficial. 

Napoleon was greatly exasperated at the terms of this treaty, and sent 
Duroc to St. Petersburg to counteract the influence of Great Britain; 
but, though Alexander gave the French minister a flattering reception, 
he could not be induced to waver in his policy. 

Sweden and Denmark were not expressly included in this convention, 
but they of necessity followed the example of Russia. On the 20th of 
May, therefore, the Danish government agreed to evacuate Hamburg, 
and restore the free navigation of the Elbe, and both Sweden and Den- 
mark raised the embargo: Great Britain adopted corresponding mea- 
sures; and Prussia took an early opportunity to withdraw her troops 
from Hanover. Thus was dissolved, in less than six months after its 
formation, the most formidable confederacy that then had ever been 
arrayed against the maritime power of England. 



CHAPTER XX. 

EXPEDITIONS TO EGYPT AND ST. DOMINGO EUROPE, FROM THE PEACE OF 

AMIENS TO THE RENEWAL OF THE WAR. 

The Turkish army which Napoleon destroyed at Aboukir, was but an 
advanced guard of the force collected by the Sublime Porte to recover 
Egypt from the Republican arms. The main body, consisting of twenty 
thousand janizaries and regular troops, and twenty-five thousand irreg- 
ulars, arrived in the end of October, 1799, in the neighborhood of Gazah, 
on the confines of the Desert which separates Syria from Egypt. At the 
same time, a corps of eight thousand janizaries, under convoy of Sir 
Sidney Smith, arrived at the mouth of the Nile, to effect a diversion in 
that quarter. The leading division of this corps, four thousand strong, 
landed and took possession of the tower of Bogaz, where they began to 
fortify themselves ; but General Verdier, with one thousand French 
troops, routed them with a loss of five pieces of cannon and all their 
standards. 

Kleber now turned his attention to the main army approaching from 
the Syrian desert. The check at the mouth of the Nile rendered the 
Grand Vizier well disposed toward negotiation ; and on the other hand, 
the declining numbers and desponding spirit of the French made them 
desirous, on almost any terms, to extricate themselves from a hopeless 
banishment. A convention was accordingly signed by the two parties 
on the 20th of January, 1800, which provided that the French soldiers 
should return to Europe with their arms and baggage in their own vessels 
or in those furnished by the Turkish authorities. But the British govern- 
ment had previously prohibited such a convention, as by their joint treaty 
with Turkey and Russia they were empowered to do, and sent orders to 
Lord Keith, commanding the English fleet in the Mediterranean, not to 
consent to any arrangement which should allow the French troops to 
return to Europe but as prisoners of war: and Kleber was advised of 
this after he had begun his preparations for embarking, in conformity to 
the agreement with the Turks. 

The French general, naturally exasperated at this interference of 
England, resolved to renew hostilities ; and, on the 20th of March, he 
reached and attacked the Turkish army in its intrenchments at Heliopolis. 
The disproportion of numbers between the two parties was very great ; 
but European discipline prevailed, as usual, over Asiatic valor, and the 
Turks were defeated with prodigious loss. Thisvictory, though it availed 
nothing toward aiding the French to return home, was of consequence in 
enabling them to remain in peace on the banks of the Nile, a treaty to that 
effect having been concluded with the Turks, soon afler the battle : but 
Kleber reaped little personal benefit from this result, as he was assassi- 
nated by an Arab in the month of June. Menou succeeded to his com- 
mand. 

As soon as the British government learned the new position assumed by 
the French troops in Egypt, they resolved on an expedition to expel them 
from that country, and dispatched Sir Ralph Abercromby with a large fleet 



156 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XX. 

and fifteen thousand men, to Alexandria. The leading frigate of the 
squadron made the signal for land, on the 1st of March, 1801, and on the 
following morning the whole fleet anchored in the Bay of Aboukir, on the 
same spot where Nelson had gained his great victory three years before. 
The state of the weather prevented for some days the landing of the troops ; 
but on the 8th, five thousand five hundred men embarked in one hun- 
dred and fifty boats for the shore. The French, to the number of about 
two thousand, were posted on the heights, in a semicircular line about a 
mile in length, supported on one side by twelve pieces of artillery, and on 
the other, by the castle of Aboukir. The moment the boats came within 
easy range of the French fire, a tremendous storm of grape opened upon 
them, ploughing the water in every direction, and scattering the transports 
over the waves. But the sailors plied their oars, and the troops steadily 
advanced in spite of every obstacle ; indeed, they moved with such pre- 
cision, that the prows of nearly all the first division struck the beach at 
the same moment. The troops sprang on shore, formed before they could 
be charged by the enemy's cavalry, and moving rapidly up the ascent 
with fixed bayonets, carried the heights in the most gallant style. In an 
hour, the whole detachment was established on the French lines, and had 
taken eight of the twelve guns by which they were supported. 

Abercromby proceeded to strengthen his position and effect the land- 
ing of the remainder of his forces. Several partial actions ensued be- 
tween detachments of the two armies during the following days, and on 
the morning of the 21st, a general battle was fought in front of Alex- 
andria, in which the French were defeated with a loss of two thousand 
men, and Menou retreated to the heights of Nicopolis ; but the victory 
was dearly purchased by the English, who suffered an irreparable disas- 
ter in the death of Sir Ralph Abercromby. Some weeks now elapsed, 
in which both parties occupied themselves with reorganizing their forces. 
On the 9th of May, General Hutchinson arrived at Alexandria, with a 
reenforcement of three thousand fresh troops, and assumed command of 
the British army. He immediately took the offensive, and, pressing on 
the French division under Belliard, compelled them to retreat before him, 
until he finally drove them into Cairo, and laid siege to that city, on the 
20th of May. On the following day, the French commander proposed a 
capitulation, stipulating that the troops, consisting of thirteen thousand 
six hundred and seventy two men, with their arms, artillery and baggage, 
should be conveyed to France. This was acceded to, and the English 
took possession of Cairo. 

When Menou, who was at Alexandria with the other division of the 
French army, amounting to ten thousand men, heard of this capitulation, he 
professed himself highly incensed, and avowed his determination to die under 
the ruins of Alexandria, rather than surrender. But the British troops, 
on the 17th of August, laid siege to that place, and Menou soon forgot his 
bold resolution : for, on the 31st, he agreeed to evacuate the town on con- 
dition of being transported to France with his men, arms, baggage, and ten 
pieces of cannon. The military results of this conquest were very great. 
Three hundred and twelve pieces of cannon, chiefly brass, were found on 
the works of Alexandria, besides seventy-seven on board the ships of war. 
The magazines contained one hundred and ninety-five thousand pounds of 
powder and fourteen thousand gun-cartridges. The total number of troops 
who capitulated in Egypt, was nearly twenty-four thousand of the tried 



1801.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 157 

veterans of France, who thus yielded to an English force considerably 
inferior to their own. 

Although Napoleon had now lost his footing in Egypt, he did not despair 
of regaining it, and made several abortive attempts to take possession of 
Alexandria, by fleets dispatched for that purpose, which accomplished no- 
thing but escapes through the British squadron in the Mediterranean, and 
returned home without having reached Alexandria. Napoleon, exasperated 
at these failures, ordered a new expedition to be prepared of fifteen ships 
of the line, twelve of which, six Spanish and six French, were to unite at 
Cadiz, and be joined by Admiral Linois with three more from Toulon. 
The British government immediately dispatched Sir James Saumarez, 
with seven ships of the line and two frigates, to resume the blockade of 
Cadiz ; and he had hardly arrived off that harbor, when he learned that 
Admiral Linois was approaching from the Mediterranean with three ships 
of the line, and one frigate. The English admiral immediately put to 
sea in search of this squadron, when Linois retreated into Algesiraz Bay, 
and took shelter under its powerful batteries. Sir James followed him and 
stood into the bay, but the wind soon failing, the Hannibal grounded on a 
shoal, in such a position as to be exposed to the fire both of the shore bat- 
teries and the French ships ; and as the other vessels were unable to ren- 
der her any assistance, they withdrew and left her to her fate. She made 
an honorable deface, but soon struck her colors. 

Sir James now repaired to Gibraltar, refitted and recruited his squad- 
ron, and, on the morning of July 12th, set sail again, to avenge his loss 
and discomfiture ; and, in the mean time, six ships of the line and three 
frigates, from Cadiz, had joined the French fleet in Algesiraz Bay, and 
the united squadrons were now on their return to Cadiz with their prize, 
the Hannibal, in tow. As soon as the British fleet, consisting of but five 
ships of the line, came in sight of the French and Spanish vessels, the 
latter, though comprising together nine line-of-battle ships, including two 
three deckers, made sail to escape toward Cadiz, leaving the Hannibal to 
drop astern. The British gave chase, and at eleven o'clock at night, the 
Superb opened its fire on the Real Carlos, of one hundred and twelve 
guns, which ship, after three broadsides, was discovered to be on. fire. 
Deeming this gigantic adversary so far disabled that she must soon fall 
into the hands of the vessels behind, the commander of the Superb pressed 
on, and in half an hour overtook and captured the St. Antoine, of seventy- 
four guns. The Csesar and Venerable came up in succession, and the 
chase was continued through the night, in the midst of a tempestuous gale. 
But while the British sailors were making every effort to overtake the 
retreating ships, a terrible catastrophe happened to the enemy. The 
Superb, after having disabled the Real Carlos, passed on and poured a 
broadside into the San Hermenigeldo, also of one hundred and twelve 
guns, and she thence proceeded to the attack of other vessels still farther 
advanced. In the darkness of the night, the commanders of these two 
Spanish three-deckers, mutually mistaking each other for an enemy, 
joined in a close action ; the violence of the wind spread the flames from 
one to the other, the heavens were illuminated by the conflagration, and 
at midnight they both blew up with a tremendous explosion. Out of the 
two thousand men composing their crews, two hundred and fifty were saved 
by the English boats, the remainder perished. 

When morning dawned, the fleets were very much scattered ; and 



158 HISTORY OF EUROP£J. [Chap. XX. 

eventually both drew off without prizes ; but it was a triumph to the 
British to have engaged nearly double their numbers, and escape with all 
their vessels ; while the combined fleet suffered the destruction of two of 
its largest ships. 

About this time, a treaty between France and Spain was announced, 
having for its object *' to compel the court of Lisbon to separate itself from 
its alliance with Great Britain, and cede, until the conclusion of a general 
peace, a fourth part of its territory to the French and Spanish forces." In 
this extremity, Portugal appealed for aid to Great Britain ; but, as that 
power could not then grant it, Portugal was forced to submit ; she pur- 
chased a treaty with her powerful neighbors by ceding to France one half 
of Guiana, paying twenty millions of francs for the support of the French 
troops, confirming Olivenza with its territory to Spain, and closing her 
ports against all English ships, M'hether of war or of commerce. 

When Napoleon found himself relieved by the treaty of Luneville from 
all apprehension of a struggle with the Continental powers, he bent his 
attention to the shores of Great Britain, and made great preparation for 
invading that country : while England concentrated her resources for a 
general defence of the coast. But it was soon apparent that these efforts, 
on both sides, were a mere cover to the intentions of the respective cabi- 
nets ; for while the shores of the Channel were covered with boats and 
transports on the one hand, and fleets of armed ships on the other, couriers 
passed incessantly to and fro with dispatches having reference to a gen- 
eral peace, preliminaries for which were eventually signed, on the 1st of 
October, 1801. By these preliminary articles it was agreed, that hostili- 
ties between the contracting parties should immediately cease by land and 
sea ; that Great Britain should restore its colonial acquisitions in every 
part of the world ; Ceylon in the East, and Trinidad in the West Indies, 
alone excepted : that Egypt should be restored to the Porte, Malta and its 
dependencies to the order of St. John of Jerusalem, the Cape of Good 
Hope to Plolland ; the integrity of Portugal was to be guaranteed, the 
harbors of the Roman and Neapolitan states evacuated by the French, and 
Porto Ferrajo by the English forces. 

In the same year, treaties were concluded between France and Turkey, 
France and Bavaria, France and America, France and Algiers, and 
France and Russia. On the 27th of March, 1802, the definitive treaty 
with England was signed at Amiens ; its conditions varied in no essential 
particular from the preliminaries signed at London, in October, 1801. 

A feeling of joy overspread all Europe when intelligence of the treaty 
of Amiens was promulgated : the population of Paris forgot, in the splen- 
dor of military pageantry, the calamities of the Revolution, and visitors 
from other countries flocked to the French metropolis to examine the locali- 
ties where such frightful scenes had been enacted, and to see the several 
heroes of the mighty drama. 

But the active and indefatigable mind of Napoleon took no respite du- 
ring this period of general relaxation. Thinking nothing done while aught 
remained to do, he no sooner attained the highest point of military glory, 
than he turned his thoughts to the restoration of the naval power of France ; 
and as the recovery of the French colonies promised the only means that 
could be relied on for the permanent support of marine forces, he projected 
an expedition for the recapturing of St. Dorriingo, which had freed itself 
from the French yoke by a bloody insurrection during the misrule of the 
National Assembly. 



1801.] HISTORY OF EUROPE.- 159 

The forces collected by Napoleon for this purpose were commensurate 
to the importance of the undertaking : thirty-five ships of the line, twenty- 
one frigates and eighty smaller vessels, having also on board twenty-one 
thousand land troops, might have been deemed a sufficiently powerful 
armament to subjugate a rival kingdom, rather than one destined to reduce 
a distant colonial settlement. The fleet was commanded by Villaret 
Joyeuse ; the army, by Le Clerc, Napoleon's brother-in-law ; and the 
troops consisted, for the most part, of the veterans of Hohenlinden, accom- 
panied by their own officers, Richepanse, Rochambeau, and others. The 
several detachments of the fleet sailed simultaneously from Brest, L' Ori- 
ent and Rochefort, on the 14th of December ; and these were followed by 
other vessels from Cadiz, Havre and Holland with additional troops, which 
eventually raised the whole land force to thirty-five thousand men. So 
completely were the people of St. Domingo at fault as to the destination 
of this armament, that, but for its detention for fifteen days in the Bay of 
Biscay, Toussaint, the negro general-in-chief of the new government, 
would have been taken entirely by surprise by the arrival of the fleet off 
the island, in the beginning of February. As it chanced, however, he 
learned from an American vessel that a large number of French ships of 
war had appeared in the southern latitudes ; and, instantly divining their 
object, he made all possible preparation for defence. 

Toussaint's entire military force, over the island, did not exceed 
twenty thousand men, hence, he could hope nothing from pitched battles 
with the conquerors of Austria ; he therefore adopted a line of defence 
exactly conformable to his position. Orders were immediately given for 
removing everything valuable from Cape Town, where the French were 
expected to land, and to prepare combustibles for destroying the city by 
fire, the moment it was evacuated. These orders were faithfully execu- 
ted. One division of the French troops disembarked on the 4th of Feb- 
ruary ; during that night, the flames burst out in every direction, and in 
the morning, of eight hundred houses, but sixty remained standing, and 
all the stores and provisions that could not be removed were destroyed 
with the buildings that contained them : a noble act of devotion on the 
part of the negroes, and one of sinister import to the invading army. 

The French troops soon overran and took possession of all the plains 
and seacoast of the island, driving the negro bands into the impracticable 
mountains and woods in the centre : but this apparent triumph was the 
result of the system of defence adopted by Toussaint, to cut off supplies 
from the French, and harass them with an incessant guerilla warfare, 
which rendered their discipline and experience unavailing. This state 
of things continued for three months, during which numberless actions 
took place, and in many, the French suffered severe loss ; but both par- 
ties at length becoming exhausted, a general pacification was agreed 
upon, on the 5th of May, 1802; when the negroes submitted to the 
government of the invaders, surrendered their arms and disbanded their 
forces. But they soon found reason to repent their reliance on the faith 
of Napoleon ; for, in compliance with his original instructions, Toussaint 
was treacherously arrested and transported to France ; and this act was 
followed by a system of oppression which soon forced the negroes into 
revolt. 

The situation of the French, in turn, became critical. Pestilence and 
the sword had reduced their numbers to thirteen thousand men in all ; and 



160 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chaf. XX. 

of these, five thousand were in the hospitals, and Le Clerc himself, with 
several of his best officers, had fallen victims to the climate. Rocham- 
beau took command after the death of Le Clerc ; but the increasing force 
and success of the negroes decimated his troops, and in February, 1803, 
he found himself reduced to extremity. When matters were in this con- 
dition, a finishing blow was given to the hopes of the French army, by 
the rupture of the treaty of Amiens, and renewal of hostilities between 
France and Great Britain. The negroes, supplied with arms and ammu- 
nition by the English cruisers, became at all points irresistible, and the 
invaders were forced to capitulate. 

Since the expulsion of the French from the island, St. Domingo has 
been nominally independent ; but slavery is far from being abolished 
there, and the condition of the people is anything but meliorated by the 
chancre. The industrious habits of the people and the flourishing aspect 
of the island have disappeared ; the agricultural opulence of its fields has 
vanished ; and, from being the greatest exporting island in the West In- 
dies, it has ceased to raise sugar at all. In 1789, the population of St. 
DomintJo was six hundred thousand, and its export of sugar amounted to 
six hundred and seventy -two millions of pounds weight : in 1832, its popu- 
lation was two hundred and eighty thousand, and its export of sugar, not 
one pound. 

But, though Napoleon was thus foiled in his attempts to establish colo- 
nial dependencies, he did not limit his ambition to this achievement. 
Simultaneously with the expedition to St. Domingo, he began to operate 
on the field of Europe, and the peace of Amiens was hardly concluded, 
when his conduct gave unequivocal proof that he was resolved to be fet- 
tered by no treaties, and that, to those who did not choose to submit to his 
authority, no alternative remained but the sword. 

By the 11th article of the treaty of Luneville, it had been provided that 
" the contracting parties shall mutually guarantee the independence of 
the Batavian, Helvetian, Cis-Alpine and Ligurian republics, and the right 
of the people who inhabit them to adopt whatever form of government they 
may think fit." The allies, by this clause, of course understood inde- 
pendence in its true sense ; that is, a liberation of these republics from 
the influence of France : but it soon appeared that Napoleon attached a 
very different meaning to the word, and that he intended to establish con- 
stitutions in them all which should subject them absolutely to his power. 

He made his first demonstration on Holland, where, on the 17th of 
September, the French ambassador sent a Constitution, completely drawn 
up, to the Directory, with an intimation that they had nothing to do but 
to affix to it the seal of their approbation ; and, on the same day, it was 
published to the nation, the Directory taking for granted that it would be 
approved. The Dutch Legislature, however, were not prepared for this 
degradation ; and the last act of their political existence was as honorable 
as, in the end, it proved unavailing : they decreed the suppression of the 
illegal acts of the Directory, and on the 18th their hall was cleared and 
their doors closed by French bayonets. A new Constitution was then pub- 
lished by the pliant Directory, alike without the knowledge or concurrence 
of the people, although it assimilated to their wishes more nearly than the 
democratic institutions which preceded it. The Directory went through 
the form of submitting this instrument to the people ; and of four hundred 
and sixteen thousand four hundred and nineteen citizens, having a right 



1802.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 161 

to vote, fifty-two thousand two hundred and nineteen rejected it. The 
fact that a great majority of the whole declined to vote at all, was as- 
sumed to be favorable to the change, and the new government was there- 
fore solemnly proclaimed. The conduct of the Dutch on this occasion, 
affords a striking proof of the impossibility of eradicating, by external 
violence, the institutions which have grown with the growth and strength- 
ened with the strength of a free people. In vain did the armies of France 
subdue them, and force upon them democratic forms of government with 
the loud applause of the indigent rabble in power. The great mass of 
the inhabitants and nearly all the proprietors withdrew from public situa- 
tions, and took no share in the changes imposed on their country. In the 
seclusion of private life, they retained the habits, the atfections and the 
religious observances of their forefathers ; and their children were nur- 
tured in these patriotic feelings, untainted by the revolutionary passions 
which agitated the surrounding states. 

This was followed by a similar revolution in the Cis- Alpine Republic, 
and a change of its name fo the Italian Republic ; after which. Piedmont 
was formally annexed to France. These acquisitions, formidable in them- 
selves, became doubly so by the means which Napoleon adopted to render 
them permanent conquests. He employed a coi-ps of engineers and an 
immense number of workmen to construct the celebrated i"oads over Mont 
Cenis, Mont Genevre and the Simplon ; and the Alps soon ceased to pre- 
sent any obstacle to an invading army. The government of Switzerland, 
too, again underwent a radical change, and a Constitution more conform- 
able to Napoleon's modified views of republicanism was forced on the 
inhabitants of that devoted country. 

While the continent of Europe v/as agitated by these events, England 
enjoyed the blessings and the tranquillity of peace. During the brief 
interval of national repose that was vouchsafed to her, the opening of the 
European ports brought into her harbors an unlimited commerce, and 
rendered her seaports the emporium of the civilized world. Her exports 
and imports rapidly increased ; the cessation of the income-tax conferred 
comparative affluence on the middling classes ; agriculture, sustained 
by continued high prices, shared in the general prosperity ; the sinking 
fund, relieved in some degree from the counteracting influence of annual 
loans, attracted universal attention ; while the revenue, under the influ- 
ence of so many favorable circumstances, steadily augmented, and the 
national exigencies were easily provided for, without any addition to 
the burdens of the people. So wide-spread was the enthusiasm, occa- 
sioned by this bright gleam of prosperity, even sagacious, practical men, 
were carried away by the delusion ;' and the only apprehension expressed 
by the moneyed classes was. that the sinking fund would extinguish the 
national debt too rapidly, and capital, left without the means of secure 
investment, would be exposed to the risk and uncertainty of foreign 
adventure. 

But these flattering prospects were of short duration. Independent of 
the increasing jealousy with which the British government beheld the 
continental encroachments of Napoleon, and which rapidly conununi- 
cated itself to all classes of the English people, several causes of irrita- 
tion grew up between the rival governments, which first weakened, and 
finally destroyed, the good understanding between them. 

The first of these subjects of irritation, was the asperity with which the 
government and acts of the First Consul were canvassed in the English 
F 



162 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XX. 

newspapers. To Napoleon, who was accustomed only to the voice of 
adulation, and read nothing in the enslaved journals of his own country 
but graceful flattery, these diatribes were in the highest degree painful ; 
and not the less so, because the charges they contained in regard to his 
ambitious policy and foreign aggressions, were too true to be refuted. 
He, therefore, caused his minister at London to remonstrate against these 
attacks, and concluded by formally soliciting, "First, that the English 
government should prohibit the unbecoming and seditious publications 
with which the newspapers in England are filled ; secondly, that the 
individuals specified in tbe annexed list, be sent out of Jersey ; thirdly, 
that Georges and his adherents be transported to Canada ; fourthly, that 
it be recommended to the princes of the House of Bourbon, resident in 
Great Britain, to repair to Warsaw ; and, fifthly, that such emigrants as 
still think proper to wear the orders and decorations of the ancient gov- 
ernment of France, be required to quit the territories of the British 
Empire." 

The English government replied to this extraordinary requisition in 
dignified, but courteous language, referring in detail to each specifica- 
tion, and concluding thus : " His majesty is sincerely disposed to adopt 
every measure for the preservation of peace, which is consistent with the 
honor and independence of the country, and the security of its laws and 
Constitution. But the French government must have formed a most 
erroneous judgment of the disposition of the British nation, and the char- 
acter of its government, if they have been taught to expect that any 
representation of a foreign power, will ever induce them to consent to a 
violation of those rights on which the liberties of the people of this country 
are founded." 

No further diplomatic correspondence took place on this subject; but 
the Avar of the journals continued with redoubled vehemence, and several 
replies of a hostile character appeared in the Moniteur, bearing evident 
marks of Napoleon's composition. The French incessantly urged the 
execution of "the treaty of Amiens, the whole treaty of Amiens, and 
nothing but the treaty of Amiens:" they loudly complained that the 
British government had not evacuated Alexandria, Malta, and the Cape 
of Good Hope, as stipulated in that instrument ; and declared that the 
French people would ever remain in the attitude of Minerva, with a hel- 
met on her head, and a spear in her hand. The English replied, that 
the strides made by France over Continental Europe since the general 
pacification, and her menacing conduct toward the British possessions, 
were inconsistent with any intention of preserving peace, and rendered it 
indispensable that the securities held by them for their own independ- 
ence, should not be relinquished. This recriminating warfare was con- 
tinued with equal zeal on both sides of the Channel ; loud and fierce 
defiances were exchanged, and it soon became manifest, not less from the 
temper of the people than the relations of their governments, that the 
contest must be decided by the sword. 

This view of the case was farther confirmed by an extraordinary scene 
between Napoleon and Lord Whitworth. the English ambassador at Paris, 
on the 21st of February, 180-3; in which Napoleon, with great vehe- 
mence, insisted on the evacuation of Egypt and Malta, complained of the 
abuse of the English newspapers, and threatened to renew hostilities 
immediately, unless his grounds of complaint were removed. 

The British government, plainly forese^'ng the result, resolved to 



1803.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 163 

anticipate it, and made speedy preparations for an outbreak. Parlia- 
ment sustained the measures of the ministry by a unanimous vote ; the 
militia was called out; ten thousand additional men were ordered for 
the navy'; Lord Nelson was put in command of the Mediterranean fleet; 
Sir Sidney Smith received orders to put to sea with a squadron of obser- 
vation ; and England resumed her arms with a degree of enthusiasm 
exceeding that with which she had lasid them aside. 

These movements led to a second and still more violent ebullition on 
the part of the First Consul. Tn a public court at the Tuileries, held a 
few days after, he addressed Lord Whitworth in the following terms: 
"So, you are determined to go to war! We have already fought for fif- 
teen years ; I suppose you wish to fight for fifteen years more. The 
English wish for war; but if they are the first to draw the sword, I will 
be the last to return it to the scabbard. They have no respect for trea- 
ties. Henceforth, treaties must be shrouded in black crape. Wherefoi*e 
these armaments ? Against whom are these measures of precaution f I 
have not a single ship of the line in the harbors of France : but i/ you 
arm, I shall arm also. If you insist on fighting, I, too, shall figh'- You 
may destroy France, but you can never intimidate her. If jou would 
live on terms of good understanding with us, you must respect treaties. 
Wo to those who violate them ! they must answer for the consequences 
to all Europe." This violent harangue, rendered sti-^i" more emphatic 
by the impassioned gestures with which it was acco^'panied, induced the 
English ambassador' to suppose that the First C(ysu\ would so far forget 
his dignity as to strike him; and he was deliK'rating with himself as to 
what he would do, in the event of such a^ insult's being offered to the 
nation he represented, when Napoleon retired, and delivered the assem- 
bled and astonished ambassadors of Europe from the pain they experi- 
enced at witnessing so remarkable a scene. 

The British government coKtented itself with replying to these intem- 
perate sallies on the part of the First Consul, by recapitulating the mutual 
obligations of the treafj, and avowing a readiness to execute every 
article to tJie letter, the moment they were satisfied of similar intentions 
on the part of France. The nogotiations were protracted for two months 
longer; but, on the 12th of May, Lord Whil worth, finding all hope of 
arrangement at an end, demanded and received his passports: on the 
I6th, letters of marque were issued by the British government ; and the 
war recommenced with increased animosity. 

The declaration of war was followed by an act on the part of the First 
Consul, as unnecessary as it was barbarous; and which contributed 
more, perhaps, than any other circumstance, to produce tlpit strong feel- 
ing of personal hatred toward Napolooflp which pervaded all classes of 
the English people during the remainder of the contest. Two French 
vessels had been captured, under the English letters of marque, in the 
Bay of Audierne ; and the First Consul made this a pretext for ordering 
the arrest of all the British subjects, then travelling in France, between 
the ages of eighteen and sixty years. Under this savage decree, more 
than ten thousand innocent persons, who had repaired to France in pur- 
suit of business, science or amusement, were at once thrown into prison ; 
whence great numbers of them were not liberated until the invasion of 
the allies, in 1814. This severity was the more unpardonable, as the 
minister of Foreign Affairs had, a few days before, given the English 
F2 



164 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap, XXI. 

residents at Paris assurances, that they should be permitted to leave the 
kingdom without molestation ; and many had, in consequence, declined to 
avail themselves of the means of escape when they were in their power. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

FRANCE, FROM THE PEACE OF AMIENS TO NAPOLEOn's ASSUMPTION OF THE 
IMPERIAL CROWN. 

Before proceeding to the history of the war, thus unhappily renewed, 
it is necessary to take a retrospective view of the internal affairs of 
France. 

When Napoleon seized the reins of power in that country, he found 
the institutions of civilization, and the bonds of society, dissolved to an 
extent of wliich the history of the world affords no previous example. 
Not only had the throne been overturned, the nobles exiled, the landed 
estates confiscattrl, and the aristocracy destroyed ; but the institutions of 
religion, law, comn^,rce and education, were totally annihilated. Even 
the establishments of diarity had shared in the general wi*eck ; the mon- 
astery no longer dispenstH, its munificence to the poor, and the doors of 
the hospitals were closed against the indigent sick and wounded. To 
restore that which the insanity of preceding years had overthrown, was 
the task that awaited the First Consul, and the success of his efforts is a 
far prouder monument to his memory than all the victories he achieved. 
He began at the outset, cautiously but Rrmly, to coerce the democratic 
spirit of the people, and to reconstruct those classes and distinctions in 
society, which he well knew were the indispenba,ble bulwarks of a throne. 
Those who reproach Napoleon for establishing 9, despotic government, 
would do well to show how he could have formed a counterpoise to 
democratic ambition, or a check on regal oppression, out of the represen- 
tatives of a community whence the superior classes of society had Toeen 
violently torn : how the turbulent passions of a republican popalace could 
have been moulded into habitual subjection to a legislature, distinguished 
in no manner from themselves ; and to a body of titled senators destitute 
of wealth, consideration and hereditary rank: how a constitutional throne 
could have existed without any support from the altar, or any foundation 
in the religiouf feelings of its subjects : and how a proud and victorious 
army could have been taught that respect for the majesty of the Law, 
which is the invaluable growth of centuries of order, but which the suc- 
cessive overthrow of so many previous governments in France had effect- 
ually destroyed. After its patricians had been cut off by the civil wars 
of Sylla and Marius, Rome necessarily sunk under the despotic rule of 
the emperors. When Constantino founded a second Rome on the shores 
of the Bosphorus, he saw that it was too late to restore the balanced Con- 
stitution of the ancient Republic. On Napoleon's accession to the con- 
sular throne, he found the vacancies in the French aristocracy still 
greater ; and the only remaining means of righting the scale, was to cast 
into it the weight of the sword. 



1801.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 165 

One of Napoleon's first measures, was a decree against the Jacobins, 
toAvard whom he entertained an inextinguishable hatred. The pretext 
for this proceeding was furnished by an unsuccessful attempt against his 
life, by means of what was called "the infernal machine." He was 
going in his carriage from the Tuileries to the opera, and in passing 
through the Rue St. Nicaise, the coachman found that narrow street 
nearly obstructed by an overturned chariot ; the man, however, had the 
address to make his way through, and drive on without stopping. He 
had hardly passed, when a terrible explosion took place in the rear, 
which broke the windows of the Consul's carriage, struck down the last 
man of the guard, killed eight persons and wounded twenty-eight, besides 
doing great injury to forty-six adjoining houses. Napoleon proceeded to 
the opera, where he was received with indescribable enthusiasm; and 
on his return to the Tuileries, a crowd of public functionaries from every 
part of Paris waited on him, to offer their congratulations. He inter- 
rupted them by saying, that the plot was the work of his worst enemies, 
the Jacobins ; and, in "a vehement harangue, he demanded the immediate 
infliction of an exemplary punishment on the leaders of that party. 
Truguet had the courage to suggest, that there were other guilty persons 
in France besides the Jacobins ; and that, as in this particular instance 
there was yet no proof against any one, it would be well to stay such 
summary proceedings. Napoleon, however, was not so to be thwarted : 
he insisted on the justness of his suspicions; and although, while the dis- 
cussion was in progress, he received certain information, through Fouche, 
that the real perpetrators of the crime were some Royalists of the Chouan 
bands, he forced the Senate to pass a decree of immediate transportation, 
without a form of trial, against no less than one hundred and thirty 
Jacobins, amono- whom were many of those implicated in the worst ex- 
cesses of the Reign of Terror. Within a month from this time. Saint 
Regent and Carbon, who were actually concerned in the conspiracy, 
were broufht to trial, condemned and executed. 

In order to restore gradually the succession of ranks in society, Napo- 
leon soon resolved to q^i-eate an order of nobility, under the title of the 
Lcion of Honor ; and a motion for its establishment was brought before 
the Council of State in May, 1801. It met, both there and elsewhere, an 
unexpected degree of opposition, from its evi;dent tendency to counteract 
the levelling principles of the Revolution ; and Napoleon's utmost influ- 
ence could obtain for it but a feeble majority in the several houses of the 
national legislature. It was, nevertheless, carried into execution, with 
all those details of pomp and ceremony that are so powerful with the 
multitude. The inauguration of the dignitaries of the order took place, 
with great magnificence, in the church of the Hotel des Invalides; and 
the decorations soon began to be eagerly coveted by a people, whose pas- 
sion for individual distinction had been a secret cause of the Revolution 
itself. The event proved that Napoleon had rightly appreciated the true 
character of the people. The leading object in the Revolution was the 
extinction of castes, not of ranks ; equality of rights, and not of classes; 
the abolition of hereditary, not personal distinction. But an institution 
which conferred lustre on individuals, and not on families, and led to no 
hereditary privileges, was found in practice to be so far from running 
counter to the popular feeling, that it precisely coincided with it. Ac- 
cordingly, the Legion of Honor, which gradually extended so as to 
F3 



166 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXI. 

embrace two thousand persons of the greatest eminence in every depart- 
ment, both civil and military, in France, became highly useful and 
acceptable. 

Another measure, and one of the greatest importance, was next brought 
forward: this was, the reestablishment of the Catholic religion in France, 
and the renewing of those connexions with the pope which had been 
violently broken during the fury of the Revolution. Napoleon, himself, 
so far from being a fanatic, was even a disbeliever in religion ; but he 
was too sagacious not to perceive, that the destruction of its hallowed 
institutions was wholly inconsistent with the prosperity of a regular 
government; and he therefore commenced a negotiation with the pope 
for reviving them. This measure, too, encountered great opposition in 
the legislature ; but it was eventually carried. Ten archbishops and 
fifty bishops were established; the former with a salary of fifteen thou- 
sand, and the latter with one of ten thousand francs each : and it was 
provided, that there slhkould be a parish priest in every district of a justice 
of the peace, with as i-nany additional ministers as might be deemed 
necessary. The bishops and archbishops were to be appointed by the 
First Consul, and these functionaries v/ere to nominate the parish priests 
and inferior clergy. It is remarkable, that some of the most distinguished 
of the French generals, such as Moreau, Lannes, Oudinot, Victor and 
others, openly expressed their disapprobation of this proceeding. 

Napoleon, however, remained firm, despite all opposition and the loud . 
discontent of the capital ; the reestablishment of public worship was an- 
nounced by a proclamation of the three Consuls ; and, on the 11th of April, 
1802, a grand religious ceremony took place, m honor of the occasion, in 
the cathedral of Notre Dame. The result of t\\is measure fully vindi- 
cated Napoleon's judgment in its adoption ; the entire population of the 
rural departments beheld the change with unbounded satisfaction and 
delight, and the different sovereigns of Europe freely avowed their gratifi- 
cation at an event so auspicious to the general benefit of mankind. 

On the 29th of April, a general amnesty was published in favor of 
exiles and emigrants, who had fled or been driven fi'om their homeS; during 
the Revolution ; and, in consequence, more than a hundred thousand per- 
sons returned to their native country ; though, for the most part, they were 
in great destitution from the previous confiscation of their estates. In the 
month of May, a system of public instruction was introduced on a scale 
of comparative liberality ; but it is observable, that all tuition of a reli, 
gious character was carefully avoided in the decree. On the 8th of the 
same month, the obsequious legislature extended the time of Napoleon's 
consulship ten years beyond the term for which he was originally ap- 
pointed : an acquisition of power, v/hich, though far short of his ambitious 
desires, was yet an important step toward their final accomplishment. In 
reply to the address of the Senate which announced this decree, Napoleon 
suo-o-ested, that he would prefer to have it sanctioned by the voice of the 
people : and the Council of State, improving on the hint, and without ask- 
ino- the concurrence of the other branches of the legislature, forthwith 
submitted to the people this question : " Shall Napoleon Bonaparte be 
Consul for life ?" Registers were opened in every commune to receive 
the votes of the citizens, and, on the 2nd of August, it was ofBcially 
lannounced, that of three millions, five hundred and fifty-seven thousand, 
eight hundred and eighty-five citizens who voted, three millions, three 



1802.1 ' HISTORYOFEUROPE. 167 

hundred and sixty-eight thousand, two hundred and fifty-nine gave their 
suffrages in the afhrmative. This is one of the most remarkable facfs 
in the history of the Revolution, and is singularly descriptive of that 
longing after repose which uniformly succeeds revolutionary convulsions, 
and so generally renders them the preludes to despotic power. The rapid 
rise of the public funds, demonstrated that this feeling was common among 
the holders of property in France. The price of these securities ad- 
vanced, with every addition to th^ authority of the successful general ; it 
rose from -8 to -16, when he seized the helm of state; and after the con- 
sulship for life was proclaimed, it reached -52. 

Great changes in the Constitution followed this alteration in the char- 
acter of the executive authority. The Tribunate was reduced from one 
hundred, to fifty members; an important diminution, as it was a prelude 
to the total extinction of that body ; and it now so completely annihilated 
its remnant of freedom of debate, as to render it an insignificant obstacle 
to the despotic tendency of the government. The Legislative Body was 
reduced to two hundred and fifty-eight members, and separated into five 
divisions, one of which was annually renewed. The Senate was invested 
with the power to dissolve the Legislative Body and the Tribunate, to 
declare particular departments out of the pale of the Constitution, and to 
modify the fundamental principles of the Republic. The First Consul 
was empowered to nominate his successor, and pai'don offences. Thus, in 
all but its name, the government had already become a despotic monarchy. 

A kw days after the Constitution was published, Napoleon presided 
at the Senate, and received the congratulations of the public authorities, 
and the foreign ambassadors, on his investiture for life. The soldiers 
formed a double line from the Tuileries to the Luxembourg ; the First 
Consul rode thither in a magnificent chariot, drawn by eight horses, 
the two other consuls followed in carriages with six horses ; and they 
were succeeded by a splendid cortege of domestic and foreign officers.. 
The gorgeous appearance of the procession captivated the Parisian mul- 
titude, v/ho rent the air with their^'shouts, and manifested as much joy at 
the restoration of the monarchy, as they not long before had done at its 
destruction. 

While Napoleon was pursuing his projects for the establishment of a 
hereditary dynasty in his own family, he caused a communication to be 
made to the Count de Lille, afterward Louis XVIIL, then residing under 
the protection of the Prussian king at Koningsberg, by which, in the event 
of the Count's renouncing all right to the French throne in his favor, 
Bonaparte offered to provide for him a principality, with an ample revenue 
in Italy. But Louis declined this proposal with great dignity, concluding 
his reply in these words : " I know not the intentions of God toward my 
family or myself, but I know the obligations which He has imposed on me. 
As a Christian, I will discharge the duties which religion prescribes till 
my latest breath ; as a son of St. Louis, I will make myself respected 
even in fetters ; and as a successor of Francois L, I will ever be able to 
fiay with him, ' All is lost except our honor.' " 

Napoleon, in this year, commenced the formation of a Civil Code, in 
which the heterogeneous laws of the monarchy and Republic were v/rouijht 
to a consistent shape. To reform a system of law without destroying it, 
is one of the most difficult tasks in political iiTiprovement, and one that \ 
perhaps requires, more than any other change, a union of practical know. ) 



168 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XXI. 

ledge with the desire for social melioration. To retain statutes as they 
are, without ever modifying them according to the progress of society, is 
to make them clash with the great innovator, Time, and often become 
pernicious in their operation: to new-model them in conformity to the 
wishes of an excited people, is almost certainly to incur unforeseen and 
irremediable evils. Nothing is more easy than to point out defects in 
established laws, because their inconvenience is felt and proved : and 
nothing is more difficult than to propose safe or expedient remedies, be- 
cause almost no foresight is competent to estimate the ultimate effects 
which changes may produce. The clearest proof of the wisdom with 
which the Code of Napoleon was formed, is found in the fact, that it has 
not only survived the Empire which gave it birth, but continues, under 
new dynasties and different forms of government, to regulate the decisions 
of many nations who were leagued to bring about the overthrow of its 
author. Napoleon has said that his fame, in the eyes of posterity, would 
rest more on the Code which bore his name, than on all his military vic- 
tories ; and its permanent establishment, as the basis of the jurisprudence 
of half of Europe, has already proved the truth of the prophecy. 

The law of succession, as established by the preceding governments of 
France, was too firmly rooted in the affections or prejudices of the people 
to be disturbed, even by the power of the First Consul ; and its effects are 
yet destined to be more important than those of almost any other change 
brought about by the Revolution. Napoleon, therefore, in this instance 
confirmed what he could not alter. By the statute in question, the right 
of primogeniture and the distinction between personal and real estate were 
taken away, and inheritance of every sort was divided in equal portions 
among those standing in an equal degree of consanguinity to a person 
deceased. This indefeasible right of children to their parents' estates 
was fixed at one half, if but one child was left ; two-thirds, if two ; and 
three-fourths, if three or more : all entails and limitations v/ere abolished. 
The effects of such a system, cooperating with the extensive subdivision 
of landed estates, which took place from the sale of forfeited properties 
during the Revolution, have been prodigious. It is estimated by the Duke 
de Gaeta that, in 1815, there were thirteen millions and fifty-nine thousand 
individuals in France belonging to the families of agricultural proprietors, 
and seven hundred and ten thousand, five hundred persons belonging to 
the families of landed proprietors not engaged in agriculture. As it may 
be supposed, where so extreme a subdivision of property has taken place, 
the majority of these little proprietors are in a state of indigence. 

The confiscation of property in France was the great and crying sin 
of the Revolution, because it extended the consequences of present vio- 
lence to future ages : and, by a striking operation of retributive justice, 
the results of that very confiscation have rendered hopeless all the subse- 
quent efforts made by the inhabitants of France for the recovery of their 
freedom. By interesting so great a number of persons in the work of 
spoliation, and extending so far the feeling of hostility to the nobles by 
whom the confiscated estates might be claimed, the permanent settlement 
of the law of succession on the footing of equal and endless subdivision, 
has of necessity ensued ; and, strange as it may appear, public opinion 
has approved the result. It is the prevalent opinion in France, that this 
vast change is the leading benefit conferred on the country by the Revo- 
lution } and yet, to an impartial spectator, nothing can be more evident 



1804.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 169 

than that it is precisely this change which has rendered nugatory every 
subsequent attempt for the restoration of liberty ; because it has totally 
destroyed the features and the elements of European civilization, and left 
only Indian ryots engaged in hopeless contests with a metropolis, wielding 
the influence of a central government and the terrors of military power. 
The universality of the illusion on this subject under which the French 
people labor, is owing to an instinctive fear, which leads the revolutionary 
party to shun everything that seems to favor even an approach to the 
restoration of the dispossessed proprietors : and, in their terror of this 
remote and chimerical evil, they have adopted measures which, by pre- 
venting the growth of any hereditary class between the throne and the 
peasant, have rendered the establishment of constitutional freedom im- 
practicable, and doomed the first of European monarchies to the slavery 
and decrepitude of Oriental despotism. By such mysterious means does 
human iniquity, even in this world, work out its merited punishment, and 
so indissoluble is the chain which unites guilty excess with ultimate retri- 
bution. 

Almost everything, now, seemed to favor Napoleon's ambitious pur- 
poses. In the civil administration, all were reconciled to the consulate 
for life, or submitted in silence to an authority they could not resist. 
The army, dazzled by the brilliant exploits of their commander-in-chief, 
rallied around his standard, and sought only to give utterance to their 
admiration for his person : and the people, worn out with the sufferings 
and anxieties of the Revolution, joyfully welcomed a government which 
gave them that first of civil blessings, security to person and property. 
Among the higher ofRcers of the army, however, the same unanimity by 
no means prevailed. Bernadotte was constantly in opposition to the First 
Consul ; and Moreau on every occasion exhibited, in contrast to the in- 
creasing splendor of military dress and the formality of court etiquette, 
the simplicity of republican manners and costume. The conqueror of 
Austria traversed the Place du Carrousel and the saloons of the Tuileries, 
in the plain dress of a citizen ; he declined repeated invitations to the 
First Consul's levees, until he was no longer asked to appear there ; and 
he often manifested toward Napoleon, when they met in public, a degree 
of coldness, which must have estranged persons even less jealous of each ' 
other's reputation than the heroes of Marengo and Hohenlinden. Nothing 
could induce him to attend at Notre Dame, when the reestablishment of 
religion was celebrated ; and at a dinner of military officers at his own 
house on the same day, he expressed the greatest contempt for the whole 
proceeding. 

While Moreau was thus insensibly, and unavoidably, becoming the 
leader of the discontented Republicans in Paris, another distinguished 
general of the revolution was assuming the chief direction of the Royalist 
party. Pichegru, having found means to escape from his place of exile, 
sought an asylum in London, where he entered into close communication 
with the French emigrants in that capital, among whom a Chouan chief, 
Georges, was conspicuous. In due time, these two individuals, with 
Polignac, Lajolais and others, landed privately on the coast of Nor- 
mandy, and proceeded to Paris, where the police had strict cognizance 
of their movements, artfully encouraged their undertaking, and suffered 
them to remain for a time unmolested. Pichegru had an interview with 
Moreau, and unfolded to him some points of a Royalist conspiracy, but 



170 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXL 

Moreau's principles were strictly those of the revolution ; and Piehegru, 
disappointed at being unable to coalesce with that distinguished general, 
prepared to withdraw from Paris with his associates : but the police now 
interfered and arrested the parties implicated, to the number of nearly 
fifty individuals, including Moreau himself. This was at once announced 
by proclamation, and the Parisians were astounded at the intelligence 
that a great number of Royalists, with Moreau at their head, had been 
detected in a conspiracy. 

During the examination of some of the prisoners thus arrested. Napo- 
leon ascertained that a person, unknown to the prisoners testifying, had 
attended some of the Royalists' meetings, and was received with great 
ceremony and respect. The description of this unknown person, as 
Napoleon affected to believe, corresponded so well to that of the Duke 
d'Enghien, a son of the Duke do Bourbon, and a lineal descendant of the 
great Conde, that he signed an oider for that prince's arrest, and gave such 
minute directions for his seizure, as rendered it evident that his destruc- 
tion was already determined. It subsequently appeared, that the duke had 
not been at Paris at all, and that the stranger was no other than Piche- 
gru. Nevertheless, the designs of the First Consul were carried into 
effect. The prince was arrested in his bed, in the neutral territory of 
Baden, on the night of March 15th; carried thence to Strasbourg, with 
his papers, and the persons found in the chateau, and was immediately 
afterward conveyed with a sufficient guard to Paris, and lodged in the 
castle of Vincennes. Everything here was prepared for his reception — 
his chamber being ready, and his grave dug. The moment Napoleon 
heard of the prince's arrival at the barriers of Paris, he signed an order 
for his delivery to a military commission, consisting of General Hullin 
and six senior colonels of regiments, who at once proceeded to Vincennes, 
where they found Savary with a strong body of gendarmes in possession 
of the castle, and of all the avenues leading to it. 

The duke had reached Vincennes at 7 o'clock in the evening, (March 
20th ;) and, after supping and making many inquiries of the governor of 
the castle, as to the object of his being brought there, retired to his room. 
He had not fallen asleep, when he was summoned to attend the sitting of 
'the commission. Savary entered soon after the interrogatories began, 
and took his station behind the president's chair. No evidence was 
brought against the prince; no witnesses were examined; a simple act 
of accusation was read to him, charging him with conspiring against 
France, and carrying on a treasonable correspondence with her enemies. 
The law, in such a case, i-equired that the accused should be allowed 
counsel ; but none was granted him, and he was compelled, at midnight, 
to enter unaided on his own defence, which consisted in a simple, unequi- 
vocal and manly denial of any criminal practice whatever, on his part, 
towaj-d the government of France. 

At the close of his declaration, he earnestly requested a private audi- 
ence with the First Consul ; and this desire was so reasonable, and was 
urged so feelingly, that General Hullin, the president, took a pen, and 
was commencing a letter expressive of the prince's wish, when Savary 
whispered to him, saying, " What are you about ?" " I am writing to 
the First Consul," he answered, "to desire an interview." "Your 
duty is finished," replied Savary, taking the pen out of his hand; "this 
is my business." 



1804.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 171 

The court then proceeded, without a vestige of evidence against the 
prince, to pronounce him guilty of all the charges in the accusation, and, 
under the peremptory directions of Napoleon, previously delivered to 
them, they ordered him to immediate execution. While descending the 
broken staircase that led to the fosse, he pressed the arm of his conductor 
and asked, " Are tliey going to leave me to perish in a dungeon, or throw 
me into an oubliette .?" When he arrived at the foot of the stairs, he saw, 
through the gray mist of the morning, a file of musketeers dravv-n up, and 
he uttered an expression of joy, at being permitted to die the death of a 
soldier. He requested that a confessor might be sent for, but this was 
denied ; and then, seeing all wishes unavailing and all hope extinguished, 
he turned to the soldiers, calmly gave the word of command himself, and 
fell pierced by seven balls. His remains, without any alteration of dress, 
were thrown into the grave previously prepared at the foot of the ram- 
part. 

When this deplorable event was known in Paris, on the morning of 
the 21st of March, a universal consternation prevailed ; distrust, terror 
and anxiety were depicted in every countenance. The deed was loudly 
stigmatized by a great portion of the people, as a bloody and needless 
murder. Crowds issued through the barrier Du Trone, to visit the spot 
where the noble victim had suffered ; and a favorite spaniel, that had fol- 
lowed the prince to the place of execution, was seen lying on the grave. 
The excitement occasioned by this scene was so great, that, by an order 
of the police, the dog was removed, and visits to the castle were prohibited. 

Other tragical events soon followed. Early on the morning of April 
6th, General Pichegru was found strangled in his prison. Since his 
arrest, he had undergone many examinations, during which he manifested 
the most unconquerable firmness, and declared his intention of revealing 
on his trial, the arts of the police, by whom he had been entrapped into 
the conspiracy, and through whose secret agency constant facilities for 
pursuing the plot, together with misrepresentations of its popularity, v/ere 
daily spread before him. Ifis death was accomplished by means of a 
black silk handkerchief, twisted around his neck with a s]nall stick about 
five inches in length. As there was no reason to suspect Pichegru of 
having committed suicide, and as the certainty of his conviction rendered 
it unnecessary for the government to destroy him privately, in anticipa- 
tion of his escape from the law, he was undoubtedly murdered to prevent 
his threatened disclosures of the practices of the police, and Napoleon has 
npt escaped the suspicion of being implicated in the deed. 

When Georges was brought to trial. Captain Wright, commander of a 
British vessel in which Pichegru came from England, and who was after- 
ward wrecked on the coast of France and brought to Paris under arrest 
with all his crew, was called to testify against the prisoner. This intrepid 
sailor, who served as a lieutenant on board Sir Sidney Smith's ship when 
he checked Napoleon's career at Acre, refused to give any evidence, say- 
ing, with proper spirit, " Gentlemen, I am an officer in the British service ; 
I am not bound to account to you for the discharge of my duty, and I deny 
your authority to require answers fi'om me to these questions :" and when 
his deposition, previously taken in prison, was read, he added, " you have 
omitted my declaration, that I was threatened with being shot if I did not 
reveal to my inquisitors the secrets of my country." He was remanded 
^ to prison, though the government could show no legal or plausible ground 



172 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXI. 

for his detention, and some time afterward was found dead in his cell, with 
his throat cut from ear to ear. It is yet unknown who perpetrated this 
murder, and will probably ever remain so : but it is certain that Captain 
Wright did not commit suicide, and that the officials of his prison-house, 
without whose knowledge he could not have been assassinated, had no in- 
terest whatever in causing his death. 

On the trial of the conspirators, it soon became manifest that Moieau 
had no concern in the plot, and the interest excited by his situation was so 
intense, that when Lecourbe entered the court with Moreau's infant child, 
all the soldiers in attendance spontaneously rose and presented arms ; and 
if Moreau had at that moment given the word, the court would have been 
overturned and the prisoners liberated. Whenever he rose to address the 
judges, the gendarmes rose also, and remained uncovered till he sat down. 
In fact, the public mind was so agitated, that the influence of Moreau in 
fetters almost equalled that of the First Consul on the throne. The trial 
resulted in the sentencing of Georges and fifteen others to death, and of 
Moreau and four others to two years' imprisonment. Eight of those con- 
demned to death were executed ; the others were pardoned ; and Napo- 
leon, anxious to be quit of Moreau's presence, purchased from him his 
estate of Gros Bois, and gave him every facility for retiring to the United 
States of America, in conformity to his own request. 

In the midst of these bloody events. Napoleon assumed the Imperial 
crown ; and the shadow of the expiring Republic was transformed into the 
reality of Byzantine servitude. The project was first broached to the 
Senate, and its public announcement emanated from the Tribunate, as 
being the only branch of the legislature in which even the form of popular 
representation prevailed. Notwithstanding the headlong course of public 
opinion in favor of despotic power, there were some determined men who 
stood forward to resist the current. Carnot in the Tribunate, and Ber- 
lier in the Council of State, were the foremost of this dauntless band. 
But they accomplished nothing beyond thejsersonal reputation incident to 
such an evidence of devoted patriotism ; as, in both branches of the legis- 
lature, the decree was carried by overwhelming majorities. On the 18th 
of May, the Senate declared Napoleon Bonaparte Empei^or of the French, 
and referred the measure to the people for their ratification. The people 
responded with enthusiasm. Three millions five hundred and seventy-two 
thousand three himdred and twenty-nine votes were given ; and of these, 
only two thousand five hundred and sixty-nine were in the negative. 
History contains no other example of so unanimous an approval of the 
foundation of a dynasty, nor any other instance where a nation so joyfully 
took refuge in the stillness of despotism. 

Napoleon's first step on coming to the imperial throne, v/as to create 
Berthier, Murat, Moncey, Jourdan, Massena, Augereau, Bernadotte, Soult, 
Brune, Lannes, Mortier, Ney, Davoust, Bessieres, Kellerman, Lefebvre, 
Perignon, and Serrurier, Marshals of the Empire. On the same day, he 
arranged the titles and precedence of the members of his family. He 
directed that his brothers and sisters should receive the title of Imperial 
highness ; that the great dignitaries of the Empire should adopt that of 
most serene highness ; and that the address of " my lord" should be re- 
vived in favor of these elevated personages. " Whoever," says Madame 
de Staol, in speaking of these days and events, " could suggest an addi- 
tional piece of etiquette from the olden time, propose a new reverence, a 



1804.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 173 

novel mode of knocking at the door of an antechamber, a more ceremoni- 
ous manner of presenting a petition or folding a letter, was regarded as a 
benefactor of the human race. The code of imperial etiquette is the most 
remarkable authentic record of human baseness that the history of the 
woi'ld contains." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

FROM THE RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES TO THE DECLARATION OF WAR BY SPAIN. 

The recommencement of the war was followed by hostile preparations 
of great extent on both sides of the Channel. Never did the ancient rivalry 
of France and England break forth with more vehemence, and never was 
the animosity of their respective governments more warmly supported by 
the patriotism and passions of the people. The first military operation of 
the French ruler was attended with rapid and easy success. He directed 
Mortier with twenty thousand troops to reduce the Electorate of Hanover ; 
and as the entire force of this province did not exceed sixteen thousand 
men under Count Walmoden, resistance was hopeless : a convention was 
therefore entered into at Suhlingen, by which it was stipulated that the 
Hanoverian army should retire with the honors of war behind the Elbe, 
taking with them their field-artillery, and agreeing afterward to disband 
for one year. During this incursion, the French armies set at nought 
the neutrality not only of Hanover, but of the lesser States in its vicinity. 
Mortier occupied without hesitation Hamburg and Bremen, and closed the 
Elbe and Weser against British merchandise. This uncalled for aggres- 
sion was of importance, not only as demonstrating Napoleon's determina- 
tion to admit of no neutrality in the approaching contest, but as unfolding 
the first germ of the Continental System, to which he afterward mainly 
trusted in his hostilities against Great Britain. 

At the same time, St. Cyr was dispatched into Italy with an army of 
fourteen thousand men. He occupied the port of Tarentum, invaded 
Naples and Tuscany, declared Leghorn in a state of siege, and confis- 
cated the British merchandise in that seaport. The islands of Elba and 
Corsica were also put in the best state of defence, and ten thousand men 
were employed in perfecting the fortifications of Alexandria, which for- 
tress Napoleon considered as the key to the whole of the Italian peninsula. 
In addition to these measures of conquest and defence, he soon issued a 
decree against English commerce, declaring that no colonial produce, 
and no merchandis°e coming directly from England, should be received 
into the ports of France ; and that all such merchandise and produce 
should be confi.scated. Neutral vessels, arriving in France, were sub- 
jected to new and vexatious regulations, and all that had touched at a 
harbor of Great Britain were made liable to seizure. 

But these proceedings sunk into insignificance, when compared with 
the gigantic preparations made for the invasion of England, which Napo- 
leon now seriously undertook. His object was to assemble, at a single 
point, a flotilla capable of transporting an army of one hundred and fifty 



174 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chaf. XXH, 

thousand men, with its field and siege equipage, ammunition, stores and 
horses; and at the same time, to provide so formidable a covering naval 
force as might secure its safe disembarkation, despite any resistance that 
the English might make. The harbor of Boulogne was chosen as the 
place of general rendezvous; every port, from Brest to the Texel, was 
filled with gun-boats of all dimensions ; the dock-yards and shipwrights 
were put into requisition; and the different vessels, as soon as finished, 
were sent around, under the protection of the different batteries along the 
coast, to Cherbourg, Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk. In the course of the 
year, no less than thirteen hundred sail, of various descriptions, were 
assembled at Boulogne and the adjoining harbors, for the transportation 
of the troops, together with an immense number of other vessels, destined 
to convey the stores and ammunition of the army: and the combined 
navies of France, Spain and Holland, were engaged for the protection of 
this innumerable fleet. The secret design of Napoleon was to assemble 
the ships of the covering naval force at Martinique, bring them rapidly 
back while the British, in detached squadrons, were traversing the At- 
lantic in search of them, raise the blockade of Rochefort and Brest, and 
enter the Channel with the entire armament, amounting to seventy sail 
of the line. He intended then to cross over to England with the whole 
army, reach London in five days, and complete the subjugation of Britain 
at a blow. 

On the other hand, the people and government of England were active 
in preparing to repel the threatened invasion. In addition to the militia, 
eighty thousand strong, which were called out on the 2.5th of March, and 
the regular army of a hundred and thirty thousand, the House of Commons 
passed a bill on the 18th of July, authorizing the king to call a levy of 
all the male population between the ages of seventeen and fifty-five, who 
were to be divided into regiments according to their years and professions ; 
and, such was the general zeal and enthusiasm, three hundred thousand 
men were within a few weeks enrolled, armed and disciplined, in the 
different parts of the country. Great activity was also evinced in pro- 
moting the efiiciency of the navy: the harbors of France and Holland 
were closely blockaded ; Lord Nelson rode triumphant over the Medi- 
terranean ; and, excepting when their small craft were stealing along 
the coast to the rendezvous at Boulogne, the flag of France almost disap- 
peared from the ocean. 

While these extensive preparations were progressing, the government 
was called to suppress another of those unhappy attempts at rebellion, 
which have so frequently disgraced the history and blasted the prospects 
of Ireland. A conspiracy was set on foot to force the castle and harbor- 
stores of Dublin, dissolve the connexion with England, and establish a 
Republic in \close alliance with France ; but the means at the disposal 
of the conspirators were as insignificant as the objects they had in view 
were visionary. Eighty or a hundred persons, under the guidance of 
Emmet, a brother of the chief who was engaged in the previous insur- 
rection, assembled on the eve of the festival of St. James, accompanied by 
the peasantry from the adjoining counties, and set forth with the intention 
of attacking the castle. But they abandoned this project during their 
march, and began to commit various outrages on individual citizens ; and 
among others, they murdered Lord Kilwarden, the venerable lord-chief- 
justice of Ireland, under circumstances of great aggravation and atrocity. 



1804.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 175 

The insurrection was quelled by the regular troops, and the two principal . 
leaders, Emmet and Russell, were executed. 

Notwithstanding the powerful condition of the British navy, no event 
of importance, excepting the capture of Surinam in the West Indies, 
resulted from the expeditions of the fleets; and the people of the king- 
dom, while considering the enormous burdens imposed on them for the 
support of the natal ai'maments, soon perceived a want of energy in 
the ministers whose duty it was to direct them to good account. The 
commerce of Britain began to suffer for want of the active protection of 
former days, and the general dissatisfaction was much increased by the 
alarming state of the king's health. His majesty gradually I'ecovered, 
however; but during the interval of his illness, a great majority of the 
men of the nation became convinced of the necessity of placing the helm 
of state under firmer guidance; and all eyes were naturally turned 
toward that illustrious statesman who had retired to make way for a 
pacific administration, but could now, in strict accordance with his prin- 
ciples, resume the direction of the second war with revolutionary France. 
As is usual in such cases, the gradual approximation of parties in the 
House of Commons indicated the conversion of the public mind, and it 
soon became evident that the administration was approaching its end. 
On the 15th of March, 1804, Mr. Pitt made a long and elaborate speech, 
in which he commented with great severity on the misdirection of the 
powers of the navy, and concluded with moving for returns of all the '' 
ships in commission in the years 1793, 1801, and 1803. He was cor- 
dially supported by Mr. Fox and Mr. Sheridan, and a coalition ensued 
between the Whig and Tory branches of the opposition. The motion 
was at first lost by a vote of one hundred and thirty to two hundred ; but 
from the character and influence of the men who were in favor of the 
resolution, it was manifest that this majority would soon decrease: on 
the 2.5th of April it was reduced to thirty-seven, and the ministers stated 
that the)'^ held their offices only until successors could be appointed, which 
latter event took place on the 12th of May. Mr. Pitt became Prime 
Minister, in place of Mr. Addington ; Lord Melville, First Lord of the 
Admiralty, in place of Earl St. Vincent; and Lord Harrowby, Foreign 
Secretary, in place of Lord Hawkesbury. 

Before the commencement of the revolutionary war, the revenue of 
Austria amounted to a hundred and six millions of florins, or about forty- 
six and a half millions of dollars. During the war, the revenue was in- 
creased by the imposition of new taxes, and it sustained no diminution by 
the peace of Campo Formio, as the Venetian states proved more than an 
equivalent for the loss of the Low Countries. At the peace of Luneville, 
the income of the government was a hundred and fifteen millions of florins, 
with which sum they were enabled to maintain an army of three hundred 
thousand men, including fifty thousand cavalry. Like most of the other 
European states, Austria, during the difficulties of former years, had been 
compelled to resort to a paper currency, and the Bank of Vienna, estab- 
lished by Maria Theresa, in 1762, was the agent by which this was 
effected. It was not, however, a paper circulation, convertible at pleas- 
ure into gold, but a system of assignats, possessing a forced legal cur- 
rency ; and the government, in 1797, passed a decree prohibiting any 
person from demanding exchange in coin, for more than twenty-five florins. 
While the war was in progress, silver and gold almost disappeared, and 



176 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXU. 

• paper issues for small sums were in general circulation. A large portion 
of the metallic currency was of brass, issued at nearly double its intrinsic 
value. In 1789, the public debt of Austria was two hundred millions of 
florins ; but in 1801, it had increased to six hundred millions. The 
treasury had been reduced to the necessity of paying its annual interest 
in paper money, and even of making forced loans from the inhabitants. 
The population of Austria, in 1801, was twenty-seven aftd a half millions. 

Jealousy of Prussia was, during the years that followed the treaty of 
Luneville, the leading principle of the Austrian cabinet ; a feeling which 
originated in the aggression and conquest of the Great Frederic, and had 
been much increased by the impolitic and ungenerous advantage which 
the court of Berlin took of the dangers and distress of the Austrian mon- 
archy, to extend its possessions and influence in the porth of Germany. 
But though compelled, at intervals, to withdraw from her alliance with 
England, Austria never ceased to look to that nation as the main pillar of 
the confederacy for the independence of Europe. The more prominent 
members of the administration of Austria at this period were the Count 
Cobentzell, vice-chancellor of state, and Count Colloredo, a cabinet min- 
ister, and intimate friend of the Emperor. The Archduke Charles was 
at the head of the war department, though he was restrained by the jeal- 
ousy of his colleagues from following out his own views in the manage- 
ment of the army. 

By withdrawing from the alliance against France, in 1794, Prussia 
had succeeded in appropriating to herself a large portion of the spoils of 
Poland ; and during the long period of peace that she enjoyed, her popu- 
lation had rapidly increased, the commerce of Germany had fallen into 
her hands, and the turmoil and expenditure of war, so desolating to the 
neighboring states, was felt in Prussia only by the increasing demand for 
agricultural produce and the augmenting profits of neutral navigation. In 
1804, the population of Prussia amounted to nine and a half millions ; 
iier revenue, to thirty-eight and a half millions of thalers, or nearly thirty 
millions of dollars ; and her army consisted of two hundred thousand 
men, strong, brave, and highly disciplined ; but not to be compared to the 
French, either in the experience and skill of the officers, or in the moral 
energy of the men as developed by the events of the Revolution. 

The Prussian capital was one of the most agreeable and least expen- 
sive in Europe. No rigid etiquette, no impassable line of demarcation, 
separated the court from the people : the royal family lived on terms of 
friendly equality, not only with the nobility, but with the other prom- 
inent inhabitants of Berlin. Many ladies of rank, both at Paris and 
London, expended larger sums on their dress than the Queen of Prussia; 
but few women equalled her in dignity, grace, and elevation of sentiment. 
A spirit of economy, order and wisdom pervaded the internal arrange- 
ments of the state. The cabinet, comprising, among other members, 
Hardenberg and Stein, was one of the ablest of the day ; and the Prussian 
diplomatists had long given their country an influence at foreign courts 
beyond what could have been expected from her resources and power. 

Russia, under the benignant rule of Alexander, was daily advancing 
ill wealth, power and prosperity. From the commencement of his reign, 
his acts denoted a large spirit of benevolence. He abolished the knout 
and the use of the torture, gave valuable rights to several classes of 
citizens, introduced improvements in the civil and criminal codes, ban- 



1804.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 177 

ished slavery from the royal domains, and decreed the beginning of 
representative institutions, by permitting the Senate to remonstrate against 
the enactment of proposed laws. The population of Russia, in 1804, was 
thirty-six millions ; her revenue, fifty millions of silver rubles, or about 
fifty-seven millions of dollars; and her army contained, nominally, three 
hundred thousand men ; though at this period, and for some years after, 
she was unable to bring more than seventy thousand men into any one 
field of battle. The greater part of the revenue of Russia was derived 
from a capitation-tax ; a species of impost common to all nations in a 
certain stage of civilization, where slavery is general, and the wealth of 
each proprietor is nearly in proportion to the number of agricultural 
laborers on his estate. The tax amounted to five rubles for each free- 
man, and two for each serf, and was paid by every subject of the Empire, 
whether free or enslaved. 

The principal powers of Europe were in these several conditions, when 
the murder of the Duke d'Enghien took place; and the startling intel- 
ligence of that bloody deed, which excited both terror and indignation in 
every court of Europe, was followed by the news of the assassination of 
Pichegru and Wright, and the occupation by Napoleon, of Hanover and 
Tarentum. This rapid succession of atrocious crime, and ambitious en- 
croachment on neutral rights, at once dissolved all true confidence and 
regard between the several European cabinets and France; and from 
that day, each independent sovereign began to look on a renewal of 
general hostilities as inevitable, though the majority confined their im- 
mediate acts to remonstrances of a more or less emphatic character. 

Meanwhile, Napoleon proceeded with his preparations for the descent 
upon England, and repaired to Boulogne to review the troops and inspect 
the condition of the flotilla. From Boulogne, he traversed the coast of 
the Channel as far as Ostend, everywhere examining the condition of the 
harbors, and the detachments of the grand army, and communicating to 
all classes the energy of his own ardent and indefatigable mind. 

On his return to Paris, he commenced preparations for the solemnity 
of his coronation. Although the spirit of the age was essentially irre- 
ligious, and the establishment of the Roman Catholic worship had proved 
unpopular with many of the people. Napoleon well knew that a large 
portion of the provincial inhabitants regarded the consecrating of his 
authority by the ceremony of coronation as an important particular; and 
that to all, whatever might be their latitude of opinion, it was of great 
political consequence to show that his personal influence could compel 
even the very Head of the Church himself, to officiate on the occasion. 
The papal benediction appeared to be the link which would unite the 
revolutionary to the legitimate regime, and cause the faithful to forget, 
in the sacred authority with which he would thus be invested, the vio- 
lence and bloodshed that had paved his way to the throne. For these 
reasons. Napoleon had long before determined to induce the pope, con- 
trary to all precedent for the last ten centuries, to repair to Paris ; and, 
for some months, negotiations to this effect had been on foot, which ended 
in the consent of the pope to undertake the journey; He accordingly 
arrived at Fontainebleau on the 25th of November, and reached Paris on 
the following day, where he was lodged in state, at the Tuileries. The 
ceremony of coronation took place at Notre Dame on the 2nd of Decem- 
ber, with great pomp and magnificence. After taking the oath, and 



178 HISTORY OFEU ROPE. [Chap. XXIL 

receiving the papal benediction, Napoleon took the crown from the hands 
of the venerable pontiff and placed it on his own head, after which he 
transferred it to the head of Josephine, who knelt before him. 

The next day, an animating military spectacle took place in the Champ 
de Mars. Napoleon laid aside his imperial robes in which he had been 
crowned, and appeared in the uniform of a colonel of the guard, to dis- 
tribute to all the colonels of the army the Eagles, which were thence- 
forward to be the standards of France. 

The close of this year was marked by an unfortunate rupture between 
Spain and Great Britain. The former government, through negotiations 
and treaties with France, had been in a measure compelled to purchase 
peace by the payment of a large subsidy, the amount of which was kept 
carefully concealed from the British cabinet. When the facts of the 
case transpired, the English minister remonstrated against the payment 
of such a sum of money, which was as directly furnishing France with 
the means of prosecuting her descent upon England, as if the vessels 
which it purchased were constructed in Spanish harbors, and moved 
thence to Boulogne. It was not long after discovered that a squadron 
of Spanish line-of-battle ships were equipped and ready to sail for Ferrol, 
where a French fleet awaited their junction, and that the Spanish vessels 
would put to sea, the moment that four Spanish frigates, with the sub- 
sidy on board in specie, should arx'ive from America. The British cab- 
inet immediately issued orders to Lord Nelson in the Mediterranean, 
Lord Cornwallis on the Brest station, and Admiral Cochrane oft' Ferrol, 
to prevent the sailing of both the French and Spanish squadi'ons ; they 
also directed each of the three naval commanders to detach two frigates 
to cruise off Cadiz, and intercept the homeward-bound treasure-ships of 
Spain ; and, at the same time, they directed the admirals to stop any 
Spanish vessels laden with naval or military stores, and detain them 
until the pleasure of the British government was known; but to commit 
no further act of hostility, either on such vessels or on the treasure- 
ships. These orders were punctually executed. Four of the six British 
frigates soon fell in with the four Spanish ships off Cadiz, and the English 
officer in command, informed tlie Spanish commodore of his instructions, 
and entreated him to sutler the detention of his vessels without the effu- 
sion of blood. But the Spaniard declined to submit to an equal force, 
and, in consequence, an engagement took place, which ended in the 
blowing up of one of the Spanish ships, and the capture of the other three, 
with ten millions of dollars on board. 

The capture of these frigates, before any formal announcement of hos- 
tilities, produced the result which might have been anticipated; namely, 
a declaration of war by Spain against Great Britain. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

FROM THE OPENING OF THE SPANISH WAR, TO THE BATTLE OF ATTSTERLITZ. 

While Spain was making preparations to commence hostilities, in con- 
formity to lier late declaration of v/ar, and the descent upon England 
occupied the attention of the respective governments on both sides of the 
Channel ; Napoleon found leisure to pursue his ambitious projects in 
other quarters, by journeying through Italy, and, by the intervention of 
force and flattery, as occasion required, annexing several of the minor 
towns and states of that peninsula to the Empire of France. His rapid 
strides toward universal dominion did not escape the notice of other Euro- 
pean powers, and negotiations were soon on foot for the arrest of his pro- 
gress. 

A treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, was concluded between 
Great Britain and Russia, on the 11th of April, 1805. The preamble 
ran thus : " As the state of suffering in which Europe is placed demands 
a speedy remedy, their majesties have agreed to employ the most speedy 
and efficacious means to form a general league of the states of Europe, 
and to engage them to accede to the present concert, in order to remedy 
the existing evils, without waiting for further encroachments on the part 
of France." The forces proposed to be employed were fixed at five 
hundred thousand men from the combined states of Europe ; and the ob- 
jects of the alliance'were to be thus declared: "First, the evacuation 
of the country of Hanover and of the north of Germany. Secondly, the 
establishment of the independence of the Republics of Holland and Swit- 
zerland. Thirdly, the reestablishment of the King of Sardinia in Pied- 
mont. Fourthly, the future security of the kingdom of Naples, and the 
complete evacuation of Italy and the island of Elba by the French forces. 
Fifthly, the establishment of an order of things in Europe which may 
effectually guaranty the security and independence of the different states, 
and present a solid barrier against future usurpations. To enable the 
several powers which may accede to this coalition to bring forward the 
forces rpgi^ectively required of them, England engages to furnish a sub- 
sidy, in the proportion of twelve hundred and fifty thousand pounds ster- 
ling for every one hundred thousand of regular troops brought into the 
field." 

By separate articles signed between England and Russia, it was agreed 
that the m.ovements contemplated by the alliance should be commenced 
as soon as four hundred thousand men were ready for active service ; of 
which Austria was expected to furnish two hundred and fifty thousand, 
Russia one hundred and fifteen thousand, and Hanover, Sardinia and 
Naples, thirty-five thousand. After a protracted negotiation with Aus- 
tria, that government at length joined the league, and Sweden followed 
the example ; but Prussia, still under the baneful influence of France, 
and bribed to neutrality by a vague proposal of Napoleon to annex Han- 
over to her dominions, refused all connexion with the allied powers. 

These threatening measures did not deter Napoleon from hastening his 
preparations for the invasion of Great Britain : they rather, on the con- 



180 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XXIII. 

trary, furnished an additional reason for prosecuting that great under- 
taking, for he was well aware that if England were destroyed, the 
Continental coalition would soon fell to pieces. The French troops now 
assembled at Boulogne and the harbors adjoining, amounted in all to one 
hundred and fifty-five thousand men, provided with four hundred and thirty- 
two pieces of cannon, nearly fifteen thousand horses, and a prodigious 
quantity of military stores and ammunition. During its encampment on 
the shores of the Channel, this great army was organized in a manner 
different from anything that had yet been attempted in modern Europe. 
At the commencement of the war of the Revolution, the divisions of the 
army, generally fifteen or eighteen thousand strong, were hurried into the 
field under the first officer that could be found ; but it soon appeared that 
few generals were capable of directing the movements of such considera- 
ble masses ; while, on the other hand, if the divisions were too small, 
there was a want of that unity and precision in their joint operations which 
is ever necessary to success. Napoleon introduced a new system, divi- 
ding- his army, in the first instance, into corps of from twenty to thirty 
thousand men, each of which was intrusted to a Marshal of the Empire; 
and again separating these corps into four or five divisions, under the 
command of generals who received their orders from the marshal. In 
this way, the generals became familiar with the qualities of their officers 
and the officers with the capacity and disposition of their men : an espril 
de corps was formed, not only among the officers of the same regiment, 
but among those of the same division and corps ; and the various grades 
of oflicers, from the sergeant of the company to the marshal himself, took 
an equal degree of pride in the precision with which their subordinates 
performed their several evolutions. 

The organization of the flotilla at Boulogne was as perfect as that of the 
land-forces. It was divided into as many squadrons as there were sections 
in the army, and the stores, baggage and artillery were already on board, 
so that nothing remained but the embarkation of the men, when the proper 
time should arrive. From constant practice, every man in the army at 
length came to know in what particular vessel he was to sail, and where 
to station himself while on board ; and it was found by actual experiment, 
that twenty-five thousand troops drawn up opposite the vessels allotted to 
them, could be embarked in the short space often minutes. The flotilla 
consisted of twenty-three hundred vessels, more than half of Hrliich were 
gun-boats of different sizes, mounting three thousand pieces of cannon ; 
and the ostensible object of this number of small armed vessels was to force 
a passage across the Channel : in point of fact, however, Napoleon never 
intended to fire one of these guns, but only to attract attention to them as 
his sole dependence ; and, while the British navy was dispatched in vari- 
ous quarters to protect her colonies, which the combined fleets of Franco 
and Spain were professedly attempting to subjugate, he proposed, as has 
already been related in the last chapter, to bring, by a sudden combina- 
tion, an overwhelming naval force into the Channel, cover the passage of 
the flotilla, and land his formidable army on the English coast. The 
army and flotilla being now in perfect readiness. Napoleon waited only 
the arrival of the fleet to enable him to carry this project into execution. 

The entire naval force intended to sustain this manoeuvre, was no less 
than sixty-eight ships of the line, of which, France waste furnisli thirty- 
eight, and Spain thirty ; and they were to be thus stationed : of the French, 



1805.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 181 

twenty-one at Brest, six at Rochefort, and eleven at Toulon; and the 
thirty Spanish ships were to be divided between the three ports of Cadiz, 
Ferro] and Carthagena, the whole to await Napoleon's orders. 

While the British government were in utter ignorance of the ulterior 
destination of the French and Spanish fleets, they became aware that a 
portion of these ships were probably ordered to the West Indies, and they 
therefore directed their admirals to keep a vigilant watch along the whole 
western and southern coast of the hostile countries. But despite the 
utmost vigilance of Nelson, Cornwallis and Cochrane, Admiral Ville- 
neuve put to sea, on the 10th of April, with eighteen French and Spanish 
ships of the line and ten frigates, having also ten thousand veteran troops 
on board, and sailed for the West Indies. Nelson soon heard of Ville- 
neuve's departure ; but mistook his direction, and, under the belief that 
he had gone to Egypt, set sail himself for Palermo. Within a ^ew days, 
however, the information brought by his cruisers convinced him that he 
was in error, and he returned to Gibraltar. On the 5th of May, he ascer- 
tained that Villeneuve had, in fact, gone to the West Indies, and, crowd- 
ing all sail in that direction, he arrived at Barbadoes on the 4th of June ; 
but in the interim, Villeneuve had reached Martinique, on the 14th of 
May, and sailed thence to the north, on the 28th, after having been joined 
by tv/o additional ships of the line, and received Napoleon's final instruc- 
tions. By these, he was ordered to repair to Ferrol and raise the block- 
ade ; to withdraw the five French and ten Spanish ships of the line that 
awaitecljiim in that harbor, proceed thence to Rochefort where five ships 
of the line lay at anchor, and with this combined fleet of forty ships, sail 
to Brest, where twenty-one more were stationed under Admiral Gan- 
theaume. With this force, which would greatly overmaster any fleet that 
the British at the moment could oppose to them, Villeneuve was to hasten 
to Boulogne and cover the passage of the flotilla : and everything now 
seemed to promise success to the undertaking. 

Nelson, learning nothing of the enemy's whereabout at Barbadoes, pro- 
ceeded to Antigua, where he arrived on the 13th of June, and received 
such information as induced him to believe that Villeneuve had returned 
to Europe. As Nelson was confident that this movement of the French 
admiral had reference to some dangerous project yet unknown to the 
British government, he dispatched several fast-sailing vessels to Lisbon 
and Portsmouth, to apprise the London cabinet of the return of the hostile 
fleet, and express his fears as to their ulterior destination. Fortunately, 
one of these vessels dispatched by Nelson outstripped Villeneuve, and 
reached London on the 9th of July. The admiralty instantly sent orders 
to Admiral Stirling, off" Rochefort, to raise the blockade of that port and 
unite himself with Sir Robert Calder, off Ferrol, directing also the latter 
officer to take command of both squadrons, amounting together to fifteen 
ships of the line, and cruise to the westward of Cape Finisterre, to inter- 
cept the homeward-bound fleet. 

Sir Robert had hardly gained his station, on the 22nd of July, when 
the enemy hove in sight, consisting now of twenty ships of the line, one 
of fifty guns, and seven frigates. The weather was so hazy, that the 
two fleets had almost come together before either was aware of the other's 
approach. Some confusion took place in consequence, and the action, for 
which Sir Robert immediately gave the signal, without regard to his in- 
feriority of numbers, commenced in a disorderly manner, several vessels 



182 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXIII. 

of both fleets having become engaged with two or more opponents. The 
battle continued until night-fall, when the parties separated to repair 
damages ; the English loss amounted to one hundred and ninety-eight 
men killed and wounded, and one of their ships was so far disabled as to 
require to be put in tow of another vessel : the loss of the enemy was 
four hundred and seventy-six men, and two line-of-battle ships which sur- 
rendered to the British. Oa the day following, neither party showed any 
disposition to renew the combat ; and, on the third day, Sir Robert, aware 
of the danger of encountering again a superior force, especially when that 
force was every hour likely to be augmented by a junction with the 
liberated fleets of Rochefort and Ferrol, wisely bore away with his 
prizes toward the English Channel, while Villeneuve made sail for Fer- 
rol. Having there joined the French and Spanish fleets, and repaired the 
damages sustained in the action of the 22nd, he sailed for Brest. But he 
received accounts at sea, from a Danish vessel, of the approach of a large 
British squadron, and he immediately tacked and took refuge in Cadiz, 
where he arrived on the 21st of August. 

As the success of Napoleon's project depended mainly on his ability to 
bring his entire naval force to Boulogne, before his intentions could be 
discovered or interrupted, the action with Sir Robert Calder, so trivial 
when considered as a maritime operation, was of immense importance 
in its results. Napoleon was transported with rage when the intelligence 
reached him, for he saw at once that his hopes of sujugating England 
were at an end, and that all his mighty pi'eparations for that object, with 
the vast expense attending it, had been made in vain. But in that mo- 
ment of fury and disappointment, he rose superior to misfortune, and 
adopted one of the boldest resolutions, and traced the plan of one of the 
most skilful achievements that any conqueror ever conceived. Without a 
moment's hesitation, he dictated to his secretary orders for the transfer of 
the entire army from the shores of the Channel to the banks of the Rhine : 
their order of march, their lines of conveyance, their points of rendezvous, 
together with the surprises, attacks and obstacles they might encounter, 
were all provided for with surprising accuvacy. Indeed, such was the 
singular foresight of the plan, embracing a line of operations three hun- 
dred leagues in extent, the stations assigned were reached by the troops 
in exact accordance to the original orders, point by point, and day by day, 
through the whole route to Munich. 

The allied troops preparing to act against France, at this time, v/ere no 
less than three hundred and fifty thousand men, of whom one hundred 
and sixteen thousand were Russians, advancing through Poland to the 
plains of Bavaria; but as this large force could not be concentrated in 
masses for at least two months, Napoleon resolved to put forth all his 
energies for a decisive blow against Austria while she was unsupported 
by her allies. The French army from the northern coast, when united 
with the disposable forces in Holland and Hanover amounted to a hun- 
dred and ninety thousand men; and the army of Italy, including the 
troops in the Neapolitan territories, was fifty thousand strong. But in 
addition to these. Napoleon, on the 23rd of September, submitted tv/o 
propositions to the Senate, which were immediately adopted ; one was 
for a levy of eighty thousand conscripts from the class who, by law, would 
become liable to military service in 1803 ; and the other was the reor- 
ganization of the National Guard, which greatly augmented the numbers 
of that force and, in effect, placed it at the Emperor's disposal. 



1805.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 183 

Meanwhile, the British government directed their efforts to shut up the 
combined fleets in the harbor of Cadiz, and Nelson repaired thither in the 
Victory, of ninety guns, to take command of the blockading squadron. 
His reception there was most gratifying. The yards of the British ships 
were crowded with hardy veterans, anxious to get a sight of their favor- 
ite hero, and their peals of acclamation made the welkin ring when he 
appeared on the Victory's quarter-deck, shaking hands with his old cap- 
tains, who crowded on board of his ship to welcome him. So great was 
the terror of his name to the enemy, that although Villeneuve had just 
received positive orders from Napoleon to put to sea, he hesitated to 
obey ; and in a council of war, it was resolved not to venture out unless 
they were fully one-third superior to the British fleet. As soon as Nel- 
son learned this decision, he withdrew a part of his ships about sixty 
miles to the westward of Cape Mary, and stationed a chain of repeating 
frigates to inform him by signals of the French admiral's movements: 
at the same time, the blockade was so rigorously maintained that he 
judged the enemy would .soon be compelled to put to sea for want of 
provisions. Deceived, now, as to Nelson's real strength, Villeneuve 
resolved to set sail and hazard a battle.. 

Accordingly, early on the 19th of October, the English frigates made 
signal that the enemy were coming out of the harbor ; and at two o'clock 
in the afternoon, they were fairly at sea, steering southeast. Nelson 
gave orders to chase in the same direction, and at daybreak on the 21st, 
the entire fleet of thirty-three line-of-battle ships and seven frigates, was 
discovered drawn up in a semicircle, in close order, about twelve miles 
off, and a few leagues to the northwest of Cape Trafalgar. The British 
fleet consisted of twenty-seven ships of the line and four frigates. Nel- 
son's plan of attack was to bear down on the enemy in two lines, one of 
which was led by himself, in the Victory, and the other by Collingvvood, 
in the Royal Sovereign ; he then gave the signal from the mast-head of 
the Victory for that order, celebrated as the last he ever made, " England 
expects that every man will do his duty." It was received with loud 
shouts from the British sailors, and the two lines pressed on to the con- 
test. Collingv/ood's ship, however, so far outsailed all the others, that 
he reached the enemy's line, .steered boldly into its centre and was 
already enveloped in fire, when the nearest vessels were yet two miles 
in his rear. "See!" cried Nelson, as he watched his progress, "see 
how that noble fellow Collingwood carries his ship into action !" and 
Collingwood, well knowijjg what would be passing in the mind of his 
commander, at the same time observed to his officers, " What would 
Nelson give to be here !" Collingwood bravely maintained his position 
against a whole circle of enemies, and when the other British ships came 
up successively within range, their crews cheered to see, amid the open- 
ings of the dense smoke, that his flag was still flying. At length. Nel- 
son's line reached its appointed place, and the action became general. 
Nelson laid his own ship alongside the Redoubtable, and a terrible can- 
nonade was for a short time maintained ; but before the latter vessel 
hauled down her flag, a musket shot from one of the marksmen in her 
maintop struck Nelson on the shoulder. " They have done for me at 
last," said he to Hardy, as he fell to the deck. " I hope not," said 
Hardy. "Yes," he replied, "my back-bone is shot through." He was 
immediately carried below, after he had taken out his handkerchief to 



184 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXIII. 

cover his face, lest the crew should recognize him. The cock-pit was 
crowded with wounded and dying men, and he refused to receive the 
attention of the surgeon until all the others had taken their turns. The 
action meanwhile continued, the enemy's ships began to strike their 
coloi's, and as the cheers of the Victory's crew announced successively 
the lowering of the hostile flags, a gleam of joy illuminated the counte- 
nance of the dying hero. As soon as Hardy was able to leave the deck, 
he c'ame down to visit his commander. They both shook hands in silence, 
and Hardy could not restrain his tears. "How goes the day, Hardy?" 
said Nelson. Hardy replied that everything went well, and fourteen or 
fifteen of the enemy's ships were taken. "I bargained for twenty," said 
Nelson ; then he added, " I hope none of our ships have struck ?" Hardy 
assured him that not one had done so. Nelson continued in a stronger 
voice, "Anchor, Hardy; the ships must all anchor: do you make the 
signal." His articulation soon became difficult, and at half-past four he 
expired, leaving a name unrivalled even in the glorious annals of the 
British navy. 

At the close of the action, twenty ships of the line had struck, inclu- 
ding the Santissima Trinidada, of one hundred and thirty guns, and the 
Santa Anna, of one hundred and twelve ; but one of the seventy-fours, 
the Achille, blew up after she had surrendered. Had Nelson's dying 
instructions, to bring the fleet to anchor, been obeyed, the remaining 
nineteen prizes would have been brought safely to Spithead : but the or- 
der was neglected, and, early on the morning of the 22nd, a strong 
southerly wind arose, which rendered the captured vessels unmanage- 
able ; some drifted ashore and were destroyed by the waves, others 
were sunk by the British, and two, having been blown off, were taken 
by the French frigates. Four, only, reached Gibraltar in safety ; but the 
prisoners, including the land forces on board, amounted to twenty thou- 
sand men. Althougli the prizes were thus lost to the British, through an 
unfortunate neglect of Nelson's orders, they were also lost to the enemy, 
whose fleet was almost wholly destroyed. Four ships of the line, which 
escaped from the battle of Trafalgar, were captured by Sir Richard 
Strachan on the 2nd of November, so that out of thirty-three sail of the 
lirie, twenty-four surrendered to the British ; and the remaining nice 
were so much injured as to be unfitted for any immediate service. 

No words can describe the mingled feelings of joy and grief, exulta- 
tion and despondency, which pervaded the British Empire, when news 
was received of the battle of Trafalgar. The fleet had achieved one of 
the greatest victories on record, and freed the country from the danger 
of an invasion ; but, on the other hand, the people were called to mourn 
the death of the hero by whom this great triumph had been gained. All 
the honors which a grateful country could bestow, were heaped on the 
memory of Lord Nelson. His brother was made an earl, with a grant 
of six thousand pounds a year; ten thousand pounds was voted to each 
of his sisters, and one hundred thousand pounds for the purchase of an 
estate. His remains were consigned to the tomb with great pomp, in St. 
Paul's cathedral : and when his flag was about to be lowered into the 
grave, the sailors, who assisted at the ceremony, with one accord rent it 
in pieces, that each might preserve a fragment as long as he lived. 

While these momentous events were taking place. Napoleon had 
pressed forward with great energy toward the Rhine. Previous to his 



1805.] • HISTORY OF EUROPE. 185 

advance, however, he had renewed his negotiations with Prussia, and 
made gr-^t efforts to effect a treaty with tliat power. But the cabinet 
of Berlin could not be induced by Napoleon's arguments to go beyond its 
policy of neutrality. During the progress of the negotiation, the Russian 
minister presented to the king a request from the Emperor Alexander, 
for permission to pass his troops through the Prussian territories on their 
route to Bavaria: this request was peremptorily refused, and Napoleon 
v.^as thereby enabled with ease to reach the Bavarian plains in advance 
of the Muscovite army. The forces which he had now assembled were 
the most formidable in respect of numbers, discipline and equipment, that 
had ever yet taken the field in modern Europe. They consisted of one 
hundred and eighty thousand men, divided into eight corps, under the 
command of the most distinguished marshals of the Empire ; and, such 
was the rapidity and secrecy of their march, they were far advanced on 
their way to the Rhine, before it was known to the cabinets of London or 
Vienna that they had broken up their camp on the heights of Boulogne. 
The several corps, with the exception of that under Bernadotte, thus far 
met with no obstacles on their route, as they were traversing their own 
or a friendly territory ; but the corps under that officer, in its march 
across Germany from Hanover to Bavaria, came upon the Prussian state 
of Anspach. Napoleon had foreseen this difficulty, and provided for it, 
by giving Bernadotte positive orders to disregard the Prussian neutrality. 
These orders were punctually executed, in defiance of the threats and 
remonstrances of the local authorities ; and Bernadotte, with sixty thou- 
sand men, including a division of Bavarians and the corps of Marmont, 
traversed the territory of Prussia and assembled at Eichstadt on the 
8th of October. By this master-stroke, the French troops were placed 
in great force in the rear of an Austrian army, eighty thousand strong, 
under General Mack, who, ignorant of Napoleon's movements, had 
incautiously crossed the Inn and was reposing in fancied security around 
the ramparts of Ulm. 

The king and cabinet of Prussia were transported with astonishment 
and indignation, when they received intelligence of the violation of their 
neutrality by the French troops. They at once learned the humiliating 
truth, which had long been obvious to the rest of Europe, but which an 
overweening vanity that Napoleon well knew how to cajole had hitherto 
hidden from themselves, that their alliance with France had been con- 
tracted by the Emperor solely for his own advantage ; that he neither 
respected nor feared their power, and that after having made them his 
fawning and subservient instruments in subjugating other states, he would 
probably end by overturning the independence of their own. They 
immediately prohibited all intercourse with the French embassy, de- 
manded satisfaction from the French minister resident at Berlin, and sent 
forward a free permission to the Russian troops to traverse the Prussian 
territories in their march to Bavaria. 

When General Mack ascertained that Napoleon was approaching, he 
disposed his forces at Ulm, Memmingen and Stockach, with advanced 
posts in the defiles of the Black Forest, contemplating an attack only in 
front, aad expecting to be able to resist the invasion in his defensive posi- 
tion. He was yet ignorant of the manoeuvre by which Bernadotte at first, 
and afterward Davoust and Soult, had taken ground in his rear with a 
hundred thousand men, where they were establishing themselves at 



186 HISTORYOFEUROPE. • [Chap. XXIII. 

Augsbourg, while Napoleon, with the remainder of his army, was press- 
ing on him from the west, on both banks of the Danube. Maqjc was not 
long in discovering his desperate situation ; but, lacking the resolution 
to adopt the only course of safety that was open to him, a retreat into the 
Tyrol, he attempted to secure himself by intrenchments at Ulm, and sent 
orders to General Auffemberg to join him at that place. This brave offi- 
cer was then at Iimspruch with four squadrons of cuirassiers and twelve 
battalions of grenadiers, and while proceeding to Ulm, in obedience to 
Mack's requisition, suddenly found himself enveloped by eight thousand 
French cavalry under Murat. In this extremity, Auffemberg threw his 
whole division into one immense square, with the cuirassiers at its angles, 
and awaited the attack. The French dragoons came on like a tempest, 
and speedily swept away the comparatively small number of Austrian 
cavalry ; but the infantry stood firm, and, with a sustained fire of mus- 
Icetry, that reminded the French of their own achievement at the Pyra- 
mids, mowed down their assailants by hundreds. After the combat had 
been for a long time maintained in this manner, with severe loss to the 
French, Oudinot arrived on the ground at the head of a brigade of French 
grenadiers, well provided with artillery. The fatigued Austrians, un- 
able to endure the onset of fresh infantry, were soon disordered, and 
several thousands of the French forced their way into the square : but 
Auffemberg still succeeded in- forming a smaller square, and making 
good his retreat with a part of his troops to some marshes in the neigh- 
borhood of the Danube. He, however, left three thousand prisoners, 
many standards, and all his artillery in the hands of the enemy. 

Napoleon began now to close upon the Austrian army, and he gained 
several minor victories over their detached parties, as he gradually drove 
them in upon Ulm. On the 11th of October, Ney encountered a body 
of Austrians, twenty thousand strong, at Hasslach, and a desperate action 
ensued, in which the French lost a part of their artillery, but at length 
retired in good order from the field, with two thousand Austrian prisoners. 
On the same day, Soult marched against Memmingcn, v/liich was garri- 
soned by four thousand Austrians; and on the ISlh, having completed 
his investment of the place, he summoned it to surrender. The Austri- 
ans, discouraged by the host of enemies that were gathering around them, 
and being destitute of provisions, immediately capitulated. By the 16th, 
every avenue of escape was closed against Mack, and the main body of 
the Austrian army ; yet, as the Archduke Ferdinand was with the troops, 
it was deemed indispensable that an effort should be made at all hazards 
to secure his retreat, by cutting a path through the French lines into 
Bohemia. 

On the day that this desperate resolution was formed by the Austrian 
generals, Ney commenced an attack on the bridge and abbey of Elchin- 
gen, where fifteen thousand Austrians were posted with forty pieces of 
cannon. The battle was contested with greax bravery, and, in the event, 
the French columns, after many hours of desperate fighting, forced the 
Austrians back upon their main body with a loss of thirty-five hundred 
men, killed, wounded and prisoners. The resistance of these gallant 
troops, however, gave the Archduke Ferdinand an opportunity to make 
his escape. During the combat at Elchingen, he sallied from Ulm at the 
head often thousand cavalry, which, by moving in two several directions, 
created a diversion that enabled him, with a few hundred horse, to gaia 



1805.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 187 

the Bohemian frontiers ; but his deliverance was purchased by the sacri- 
fice of nearly all the large body of cavalry that aided it, more than nine 
thousand of them having fallen into the hands of the French. 

As Mack was now deprived of all hope of relief, Napoleon summoned 
him to surrender; and after a brief negotiation, the entire Austrian army 
capitulated and laid down their arms. It is hardly possible to speak in 
terms of exaggeration of this astonishing victory : with a loss of not more 
than eight thousand men, Napoleon had taken or destroyed nearly eighty 
thousand of the best troops in the Austrian dominions. 

While these stupendous events were paralyzing the Imperial strength 
in the centre of Germany, the campaign had opened in Italy. The 
Aulic Council, from whose errors the European nations suffered so often 
and so deeply, and who could learn nothing even from their own experi- 
ence, committed three capital faults in their plan of operations. In the 
first place, they had ordered Mack with eighty thousand men to push for- 
ward into an exposed situation, and bear the weight of the whole French 
army in the valley of the Danube ; secondly, they compelled the Arch- 
duke Charles to remain inactive on the Adige with ninety thousand men, 
in presence of Massena who had only fifty thousand ; and thirdly, twenty 
thousand men were kept scattered over the Tyrol without any enemy at 
all to occupy them. 

As soon as the cabinet of Vienna ascertained Mack's dangerous situa- 
tion, they ordered the Archduke Charles to dispatch thirty regiments 
across the Tyrol toward Germany to his assistance ; and the Austrian 
army in Italy was thus reduced to nearly an equality of numbers with 
Massena. The latter general occupied the city of Verona and its castles, 
on the right bank of the Adige, while the Archduke held the suburbs of 
the town, on the left bank of that river. The bridge between the two 
camps was strongly barricaded and carefully guarded at each end. Mas- 
sena, stimulated by the orders of Napoleon and the news of his success, 
at length resolved to assume the offensive by forcing the bridge ; and at 
midnight, on the 1.8th of Ogtober, after removing his own barricades as 
silently as possible, he caused petards to be placed against those of the 
Austrians. He then commenced a violent cannonade along the banks of 
the river, and while the enemy's attention was thus diverted, the petards 
v/cre exploded and the barricades thrown down. The French troops 
rushed forward, but found to their surprise a yawning gulf between them 
and the opposite bank, a section of the bridge having been cut away by 
the Austrians behind their barricades. In the confusion of the moment, 
however, and under cover of a thick fog which the rising sun had not yet 
dispelled, the French soldiers, by means of boats and planks, made good 
their passage, and secured a footing on the Austrian shore, whence the 
Archduke, after a whole day's fighting, was unable to dislodge them. He 
therefore withdrew to the position of Caldiero, which he had been for 
some time fortifying, and where he considered himself safe from any at- 
tack ; and, indeed, so it proved : for after three entire days of the most 
desperate fighting, in which both armies suffered severe losses, though 
the greater portion was on the side of the French, Massena was compelled 
to retire ; and but for the progress of events in Germany, which required 
the Archduke's presence there, the French marshal would have been 
unable to retain his position on the Adige. 

The Archduke John had arrived at the head-quarters of the Austrian 



188 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXIIL 

army, and brought official intelligence of the disaster at Ulm, and the 
consequent exposure of Vienna. Justly alarmed at this news, the Arch- 
duke Charles made immediate preparations to fall back and cover the 
Austrian capital ; but to conceal his movements from Massena, while he 
pushed forward by forced marches his heavy artillery and baggage, he 
made demonstrations of following up his success at Caldiero, which com-, 
pletely deceived the French commander and induced him to take a 
defensive position in front of Verona. When the main body of the Aus- 
trian army, with all its incumbrances of baggage and artillery, was suf- 
ficiently advanced, the rear-guard broke up from their intrenchments and 
followed the retreating columns ; and although Massena was not long in 
discovering his mistake, and pushed on in pursuit, the Austrians had 
gained a full day's march, and he could not overtake them in force. 

Napoleon followed up his success at Ulm, by pressing through Bavaria. 
He arrived at Munich on the 24th of October, where he was received with 
every demonstration of joy, while the leading corps under Bernadotte, 
Davoust, Murat and Marmont liastened toward the hereditary states of 
Austria. The Iser was soon passed ; the French eagles were borne in 
triumph through the forest of Hohenlinden, and nothing arrested the march 
of the victorious troops until they reached the rocky banks of the Inn, and 
appeared before the fortress ofBrannau; and the detention here was but 
brief, for the Austrian garrigon soon evacuated the place. At the same 
time, Ney and Augereau were ordered into the Tyrol, to drive the Aus- 
trian forces from tlie vast fortress which its mountains composed. 

The Russians under KutusofT and Benningsen on the one side, and the 
Austrians from Italy and the Tyrol under the Archdukes Charles and 
John on the other, were now approaching to cover Vienna, and courier 
after courier was dispatched to hasten their movements : the French troops 
also were rapidly moving toward the same common centre ; and universal 
alarm spread through the Austrian dominions. 

Meantime, Prussia assumed a menacing attitude : the king openly in- 
clined to hostile measures. Prince Louis vehemently declared his desire 
for war, and the inhabitants echoed his wishes. Haugwitz, the author of 
the temporizing system, soon lost his consideration in the cabinet, and 
Hardenberg was intrusted with the direction of affairs. At this juncture, 
the Emperor Alexander arrived at Berlin, and exei'ted his utmost influ- 
ence to induce the king to embrace a more manly and courageous policy 
than he had hitherto pursued. This proceeding decided the king, and a 
convention was signed on the 3rd of November between the two monarchs, 
stipulating that the treaty of Luneville should be taken as the basis of the 
arrangement, and all the acquisitions which France had since made were 
to be wrested from her; while Switzerland and Holland were to be 
restored to their independence. Haugwitz was to be intrusted with noti- 
fying this convention to Napoleon, with authority, in case of his acceding 
to it, to offer him the former friendship and alliance of Prussia ; but, if he 
refused, lo declare war, with an intimation that hostilities would com- 
mence on the 15th of December. 

After the conclusion of this treaty, Alexander repaired to Gallicia, to 
assume in person the command of the Russian army of reserve which was 
advancing through that province to the support of KutusofTj but, unfor- 
tunately, the cabinet of Prussia still lacked resolution to interfere at once 
and decidedly in the war. Haugwitz did not set out on his mission until 



1805.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 189 

the 14th of November, the Prussian armies made no advance to the Da- 
nube, and Napoleon was sufFcred to proceed without interruption toward 
Vienna, while eighty thousand Prussian veterans remained inactive in 
Silesia on his left flank ; a force which, acting in cooperation with the 
Austrian and Russian troops, might readily have thrown back the French 
Emperor, with disaster and disgrace, to the banks of the Rhine. 

While Napoleon thus triumphantly approached the Austrian capital, 
Ney and Augereau, with almost equal facility, carried everything before 
them in the Tyrol ; where, within little more than three weeks, they 
expelled the Imperialists from what had long been considered the impreg- 
nable bulwark of the Austrian empire, though it was garrisoned by twenty- 
five thousand regular troops and at least an equal number of well-trained 
militia : more than half of this entire force fell into the hands of the inva- 
ders. Ney then marched to Salzbourg, to form a junction with Massena, 
and Augereau withdrew to Ulm to observe the Prussians, while the occu- 
pation of the Tyrol was committed to the Bavarian troops. Napoleon still 
continued his advance, and on the 6th of November, established his head- 
quarters at Lintz, the capital of Upper Austria. Here, he remained a 
short time to give some repose to his troops and introduce a new organ- 
ization, with a view of destroying the Russian corps under KutusofF; for 
which purpose, four divisions, amounting to twenty thousand men, were 
passed over to the left bank of the Danube and placed under the command 
of Mortier, whose instructions were to advance cautiously, and send out 
videttes in every direction, until he should gain a point whence he might 
effectually surprise the Russian commander. 

At Lintz, Napoleon also received the Elector of Bavaria, who hastened 
to that city to render the homage due to the deliverer of his dominions ; 
and on the same day. Count Giulay arrived from the Emperor of Austria 
with proposals for an armistice, having reference to a general peace ; for 
the cabinet of Vienna, despairing of the arrival in time of the Archduke 
and Kutusoff, began to fear the destruction of their capital. Napoleon 
received the envoy courteously ; but, after remarking that a beaten army, 
unable to defend a single position, could not with propriety offer terms to 
a conqueror at the head of two hundred thousand men, he sent him back 
with a letter to the Emperor, in which he proposed to treat for peace on 
condition that the Russians should forthwith evacuate the Austrian terri- 
tory and retire into Poland, that the levies in Hungary should be dis- 
banded, and Tyrol and Venice ceded to the French doininions. If these 
terms were not accepted, he averred that he would continue his march 
toward Vienna without an hour's intermission. 

The proposal of such rigorous conditions showed the allies that they 
had no hope, but in a bold prosecution of the war; they, therefore, dis- 
patched the most urgent entreaties to the Russian head-quarters to hasten 
the advance of their reserves, while a strong rear-guard took post at Am- 
stetten, to secure a passage through the narrow defile of the Danube for 
the main body and artillery of the allied army covering Vienna. This 
rear-guard, however, was attacked by Oudinot and Murat, and, after a 
bloody conflict, was forced to retreat ; but not until it had gained time for 
the allied army to arrive at the rocky ridge behind St. Polten, the last 
defensible position in front of Vienna, and which commanded the junction 
of the lateral road, running from Italy through Leoben, with the great 
route down the valley of the Danube to the capital. Napoleon saw the 



i90 HISTORYOF EUROPE. [Chaf. XXIII. 

necessity of wresting this important position from the allies, and directed 
sixty thousand men to turn their right flank, fifty thousand to manoeuvre 
on the left, while he in person, at the head of his Imperial guard and the 
corps of Soult assailed them in front. As it was impossible for KutusofT 
to maintain his ground against such overwhelming numbers, he resolved 
to abandon the capital and withdraw to the left bank of the river. 

Skilfully concealing his intention from the enemy, he moved his whole 
army across the Danube at Mautern, over the only bridge which traverses 
that river between Lintz and Vienna ; and having burned it behind him, 
succeeded, for some days at least, in throwing an impassable barrier be- 
tv/een his troops and their indefatigable pursuers. He continued his retreat 
in good order until he reached the vicinity of Stein, where, on the 11th of 
November, his rear-guard was attacked by the whole advanced division 
of Mortier's corps. The combat soon became warm ; fresh troops arrived 
on both sides, and the grenadiers fought man to man with undaunted reso- 
lution. Toward noon, intelligence was spread that the Russian division 
of Doctoroif had, by a circuitous march, gained Mortier's rear; and the 
latter, finding himself thus attacked on both sides, and separated from the 
remainder of his corps, resolved to dislodge this new assailant. He ac- 
cordingly made a spirited attack on DoctorofT's troops, but he was unable 
to force them from their position until after several hours of hard fighting, 
during which he lost three eagles and two-thirds of his men. Dupont at 
length came up with the I'emaindcr of his corps and forced the Russians 
to retreat. 

Napoleon now ordered Lannes and Murat to advance upon Vienna and 
endeavor to gain possession of the bridge over the Danube. At the same 
time, the Emperor Francis retired from his capital, after confiding the 
charge of it to Count Wurbna, his grand chamberlain. The citizens were 
overwhelmed with consternation when they found themselves deserted by 
the Emperor, and assembled in tumultuous crowds demanding arms to 
defend the capital ; but it was too late. The means of resistance no 
longer remained ; and a deputation' was sent to Napoleon's head-quarters 
to treat for a surrender. 

Retaining a sufficient force to secure the occupation of Vienna, Napo- 
leon ordered Murat, Bernadotte and Mortier to follow up Kutusotf 's retreat, 
and prevent his junction with the Archduke Charles. Murat, finding it 
improbable that he could overtake KutusofF, had recourse to a stratagem, 
and sent a fiag of truce to the Russian head-quarters, announcing that an 
armistice had been concluded at Vienna : but the wily Russian proved 
an overmatch for Murat in diplomacy. He professed great joy at the 
news, which he knew could not be true, and not only pretended to enter 
cordially into the negotiation, but sent the Emperor's aid-de-camp, Win- 
zingerode, to propose terms of peace. Murat fell into his own snare: for 
while he stayed his pursuit to consider these proposals, Kutusoir, after 
ordering Bagrathion to remain behind with eight thousand men, pushed 
forward the main body of his army to Znaim, where he was enabled to 
open communications not only with the Austrians, but also with the reen- 
forcing Russian troops. 

Napoleon was greatly enraged when he found that his generals had 
been thus foiled, and ordered an immediate attack on Bagrathion's rear- 
guard. This brave Russian commander soon found himself assailed in 
front and on both flanks by Oudinot, Murat, Lannes and Soult, with no 



1805.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 191 

less than forty thousand men ; yet he maintained his position for twelve 
hours, and finally retreated in good order with five thousand of his troops, 
leaving behind liim three thousand killed, wounded or prisoners. Nothing 
now could prevent the junction of the allied forces, which took place at 
Wischau on the 19th of November. Their entire strength amounted to 
seventy-five thousand men ; and a division of the Russian Imperial guard 
under the Grandduke Constantine, with a detachment under Benningsen, 
was hourly expected, which would raise their numbers to ninety thousand. 
Napoleon, when he found that the junction of the allies was inevitable, 
took the most energetic measures to close the campaign by a general 
action, and moved toward Austerlitz v/ith all his disposable forces for that 
purpose. In order to gain time for the requisite concentration of his 
troops, he proposed to enter into a conference with Alexander for an ar- 
mistice, and the Russian Emperor, equally anxious for a brief delay, dis- 
patched an ambassador on this fruitless errand. While the negotiation 
was in progress. Count Haugwitz arrived with the ultimatum of Prussia ; 
but Napoleon was not disposed to treat on this subject until he had made 
some further advance in the affairs of the campaign, and recommended 
HaugM'itz to repair to Vienna and open his conference with Talleyrand. 

On the 1st of December, Napoleon had assembled his masses, to the 
number of ninety thousand veteran troops, midway between Brunn and 
Austerlitz. His left wing, under Lannes, was stationed at the foot of a 
chain of hills, having a powerful guard of cavalry. Next to these was 
the corps of Bernadotte, and between him and the centre were the grena- 
diers of Oudinot, the cavalry of Murat, and the Imperial guard under 
Bessieres. The centre, under the command of Soult, occupied the villages 
near the heights of Pratzen. The right wing, under Davoust, was thrown 
back in a semicircle, with its reserves at the Abbey of Raygern in the 
rear, and its front line stretching to the Lake Moenitz. A succession of 
marshes covered the front of the whole position. 

The allies, in their plan of attack, decided to turn the right flank of the 
French army so as, in case of success, to cut them off from Vienna and 
drive them to the Bohemian mountains ; and they sought to effect tliis by 
one of the most hazardous operations in war — a flank march in column in 
front of a concentrated enemy, and that enemy Napoleon. Accordingly, 
earty in the morning of December 2nd, they moved forward in five col- 
umns obliquely across the French position, while the reserve, under the 
Grandduke Constantine, occupied the heights in front of Austerlitz. The 
moment that Napoleon saw this suicidal manoeuvre undertaken, he ex- 
claimed, " That army is my own !" 

A heavy mist at first enveloped both armies, and for a time obscured 
their m.ovements from view ; but at length the sun arose in unclouded 
brilliancy — that "sun of Austerlitz" which Napoleon so often afterward 
apostrophized, as illuminating the brightest period of his life — and the 
magnitude of the error committed by the allies was' plainly revealed : 
they had abandoned the heights of Pratzen, the key to their position, and 
exposed the flank of their whole army, in detached masses, to the delibe- 
rate attacks of the French veterans. It was impossible, under such cir- 
cumstances, that the victory could remain long in doubt. The Russian 
and Austrian troops fought with desperate valor against their disadvan- 
tages, and in parts of the field gained a temporary success ; but in the 
event, almost every attack of the French prevailed ; the allied army was 



192 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXIII. 

broken and routed at all points, and at nightfall they were retreating in 
almost utter disorganization, having lost in killed, wounded and prisoners, 
thirty thousand men, besides a hundred and eighty pieces of cannon, four 
hundred caissons and forty-five standards. The loss of the French did 
not exceed twelve thousand men. 

Such was the effect produced by this great disaster that, during a 
council held at midnight, at the Russian Emperor's lodgings, it was 
doubted whether hostilities could be prolonged with any hope of success, 
and by four o'clock in the morning, Prince Lichtenstein was dispatched 
to Napoleon's head-quarters to propose an armistice. There was no 
difficulty in coming to an understanding. Napoleon, notwithstanding the 
extent of his victory, was well aware of the danger that might yet ensue 
from a combination against him, orf Prussia with the other European 
powers; he knew that the Archduke Charles, with eighty thousand 
troops, was already threatening Vienna, and that Hungary was rising 
en masse at the approach of the invaders. On the 4th of December, an 
interview took place between the Emperor Francis and Napoleon, which 
lasted for two hours, and ended in an agreement that Presburg should be. 
the seat of the negotiations for peace, that an armistice should imme- 
diately take place at all points, and that the Russian troops should retire 
by slow marches to their own country, Savary was sent to the Emperor 
Alexander to request his consent to thes'e terms, which he granted with- 
out hesitation, and Napoleon stopped the advance of the French columns. 
On the 6th of December, the armistice was formally concluded at 
Austerlitz, by which it was stipulated that, until the conclusion of a 
general peace, the French should continue to occupy those portions of 
Upper and Lower Austria, Tyrol, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and Mora- 
via, then in their possession ; that the Russians should evacuate Moravia 
and Hungary in fifteen days, and Gallicia within a month ; that all in- 
surrectionary movements in Hungary and Bohemia should be stopped, 
and no armed force of any other power permitted to enter the Austrian 
territories. This latter clause was levelled at the Prussian armaments, 
and it afforded the cabinet of Berlin a pretext for withdrawing from a 
coalition into which they had entered at so untoward a period. 

Alexander no sooner found himself delivered from the toils of his 
redoubtable adversary, than he sent the Grandduke Constantino and 
Prince Dolgoroncki to Berlin, offering to place all his forces at the dis- 
position of the Prussian cabinet, if they would vigorously prosecute the 
war: but the diplomatist to whom the fortunes of Prussia were now com- 
mitted, had very different objects in view, and he was prepared, by an 
act of matchless perfidy, to put the finishing stroke to that system of 
tergiversation and deceit, by which, for ten years, the cabinet of Berlin 
had been disgraced. It has already been related that Haugwitz had 
reached the head-quarters of Napoleon with instructions to declare war 
ao-ainst France ; but the battle of Austerlitz had changed the face of 
affairs, and Haugwitz resolved not only to withdraw from the coalition, 
but to secure a part of the spoils of his former allies; and if he could 
not chase the French standards beyond the Rhine, at least to wrest from 
England those continental possessions which she now appeared in no 
condition to defend. Napoleon soon ascertained the disposition of the 
minister, and offered to incorporate Hanover with the Prussian dominions 
in exchange for some of the detached southern possessions of Prussia, 



1805.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 193 

which were to be ceded to France and Bavaria, provided she would 
abandon her doubtful policy, and enter heart and hand into the French 
alliance. Haugwitz eagerly accepted these proposals and signed a for- 
mal treaty for carrying them into effect. 

The negotiations between Austria and Napoleon were soon brought to 
a close. By the treaty of Presburg, she was in a manner isolated from 
France, and to all appearance, rendered incapable of again interfering 
in the contests of Western Europe. She was cjompelled to cede the 
Tyrol and Inviertel to Bavaria ; to relinquish the Continental dominions 
of Venice and all her accessions in Italy, together with Voralberg, Ech- 
stadt, and various towns and lesser principalities in Germany. The 
electors of Wirtemberg and Bavaria were made kings of their respective 
provinces, and the Emperor Francis was forced to engage, both as chief 
of the Empire, and as co-sovereign, "to throw no obstacles in the way 
of any acts which the Kings of Wirtemberg and Bavaria, in their capacity 
of sovereigns, might think proper to adopt :" a clause which, by providing 
for the independent authority of these infant kingdoms, virtually dis- 
solved the Germanic Empire. The secret articles of the treaty were 
still more humiliating. It was by them provided, that Austria should 
pay a contribution of forty millions of francs in addition to an equal sum 
already levied by the French in the conquered provinces, and also in 
addition to the loss of the immense military stores and magazines which 
had fallen into the hands of the victors during the war, and which were 
either to be sent off to France or redeemed by a heavy ransom. 

This treaty was followed by a measure hitherto unprecedented in 
European history — the pronouncing sentence of dethronement against an 
independent sovereign for no other cause than his having, during the late 
campaign, contemplated hostilities against the Emperor of France. On the 
26th of December, a menacing proclamation issued from Presburg against 
the House of Naples. In this document Napoleon announced that Mar- 
shal St. Cyr would march to Naples " to punish the treason of a criminal 
queen, and precipitate her from the throne. We haVe pardoned" it con- 
tinued, " that infatuated king, who has thrice done everything to ruin 
himself. Shall we pardon him a fourth time ? Shall we a fourth time 
trust a court without faith, without honor, without reason ? No ! The 
dynasty of Naples has ceased to reign ; its existence is incompatible with 
the repose of Europe and the honor of my crown." 

The dissolutionof the European confederacy against Napoleon — which 
its author had so assiduously labored to construct, and from which he ex- 
pected such important results — was fatal to Mr. Pitt. His health, long 
weakened by the fatigue and excitement incident to his position, sunk 
under the disappointment of this failure of his projects ; and he expired at 
his house in London, on the 23rd of January, 1806, exclaiming with his 
latest breath, " Alas, my country !" Chateaubriand has said, " while all 
other reputations, even that of Napoleon, are on the decline, the fame of 
Mr. Pitt alone is continually increasing, and seems to derive fresh lustre 
from every vicissitude of fortune." But this eulogium was not drawn 
forth by the greatness and constancy merely, of the British statesman : 
the justness of his principles, of which subsequent events have afforded 
proof, is the true cause of the growth and stability of his fame. But for 
the despotism of Napoleon, followed, as it was, by the freedom of the 
Restoration, the revolt of the barricades and the military government of 
O 



194 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXIV. 

Louis Philippe, his reputation for accurate judgment and foresight, in 
regard to foreign transactions, would have been incomplete ; Avithout the 
passage of the Reform Bill, and the subsequent ascendency of democratic 
ambition in Great Britain, his worth in domestic government would never 
have been appreciated. Every hour, abroad and at home, is now illustra- 
ting the truth of his principles. He was formerly admired by a party 
in England as the cliampion of aristocratic rights ; he is now looked back 
upon by the nation as the last steady asserter of universal freedom : for- 
merly, his doctrines were approved chiefly by the great and the affluent ; 
they are now embraced bjthe generous, the thoughtful, the unprejudiced 
of every rank — by all who regard passing events with the eye of historic 
inquiry, or are attached to liberty, not as the means of elevating a party 
to power, but as the birthright of the human race. To his speeches we 
now turn as to the oracles fraught with prophetic warning of future disas- 
ter. It is contrast which gives brightness to the colors of history ; it is 
experience which brings conviction to the cold lessons of political wisdom ; 
and thus, though many eloquent evilogiums have been pronounced on the 
memory of Mr. Pitt, all panegyrics are lifeless, compared to that fur- 
nished by Earl Grey's administration. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

FROM THE PEACE OF PRESBURG TO THE FALL OF PRUSSIA. 

The peace of Presburg seemed to have finally subjected the continent 
of Europe to the Empire of France. The formidable coalition of the 
several powers was dissolved ; Austria had, apparently, received an irre- 
parable wound ; Prussia, though irritated, was overawed ; and the Auto- 
crat of Russia was indebted to the forbearance of the victor for the means 
of escaping from the theatre of his triumph. Sweden, in indignant silence, 
had withdrawn to the shores of Gothland ; Naples was overrun ; Switzer- 
land was silent ; and Spain consented to yield her fleets and treasures to 
the conqueror. England, unsubdued in arms and with unflinching reso- 
lution, continued the strife ; but, after the prostration of her allies, and 
the destruction of the French marine, the war appeared to have no longer 
an intelligible object ; while the death of the great statesman who had 
ever been the uncompromising foe of the Revolution, and the soul of the 
confederacies opposed to it, led to an expectation that a more pacific sys- 
tem of government might be anticipated from his successors. 

The death of Mr. Pitt dissolved the administration of which he was 
the head. His towering genius could ill bear a partner in power or 
a rival in renown. Equals, he had none; friends, few, and with the 
exception of Lord Melville, perhaps no statesman ever possessed his un- 
reserved confidence. There were many men of ability and resolution in 
his cabinet, but none of sufficient strength to take the helm when it drop- 
ped from his hands. In addition, also, to the comparative weakness of 
the ministry after Mr. Pitt's decease, the state of public opinion rendered 
it doubtful whether any new administration, not founded on a coalition 



1806.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 195 

of parties, could command general support. Under these circumstances, 
the king sent a messenger to Lord Grenville, requesting his attendance 
at Buckingham House, to confer with his majesty on the formation of a 
government. Lord Grenville, on repairing thither, suggested Mr. Fox 
as the proper person to be consulted. " I thought so, and I meant it so," 
replied the king ; and the forming of an administration was forthwith 
intrusted to these two distinguished men. 

Mr. Fox, though entitled, by his talents and influence, to the highest 
appointment under the crown, contented himself with the Department of 
Foreign Affairs, considering that to be the situation in which the greatest 
embarrassments would occur, and where his own principles were likely 
soonest to lead to important results. Lord Grenville was made First 
Lord of the Treasury ; Mr. Erskine, Lord Chancellor ; Lord Howick, 
First Lord of the Admiralty ; Mr. Windfiam, Secretary at War ; and 
Earl Spencer, Secretary of State for the Home Department. The cabinet 
exhibited a splendid array of ability : but many observed, with regret, 
that all the members of the precedent administration were excluded from 
office, and anticipated that a coalition which thus seemed likely to depart 
from the path of its predecessors, could not long retain the power it had 
acquired. Neverthele.ss, no immediate change took place in the measures 
of the government ; and Europe saw with surprise that the men who had 
invariably characterized the war as unjust and impolitic, themselves pre- 
pared to carry it on with the same energy as the former ministers : a 
striking fact, significant alike of the soundness of Mr. Pitt's policy, and of 
the candor of the party who now directed public affairs. 

The return of Napoleon to Paris, where he arrived on the 26th of 
January, was an opportune event for the financial affairs of the country, 
for the nation was on the verge of bankruptcy ; and nothing but the 
Emperor's extraordinary efforts to meet the crisis, together with the timely 
conclusion of the war, which relieved the demands on the treasury, could 
have averted that calamity. After the public apprehensions on this sub- 
ject were somewhat allayed, the municipality of Paris resolved to erect a 
monument, commemorative of the campaign of Austerlitz ; and five hun- 
dred pieces of cannon, taken from the Austrians, were accordingly con. 
verted into the beautiful column in the Place Vendome. 

Napoleon soon proceeded to execute his purpose against Naples, and 
dispatched Joseph Bonaparte, at the head of fifty thousand men, to take 
possession of the throne in his own name. As resistance was impossible, 
the future sovereign of Naples made his entry into that city, on the 15th 
of February ; and on the 14th of April, he received the decree by which 
Napoleon also created him king of the two Sicilies. At the same time, 
the Venetian States were definitively annexed to the kingdom of Italy, and 
Napoleon's son-in-law, Eugene Beauharnois, called to the throne. The 
beautiful Pauline, Napoleon's sister, and wife of Prince Borghese, re- 
ceived the duchy of Guastalla ; the Princess Eliza was created Prin- 
cess of Lucca PiombJno ; Murat was made Grand-Duke of Berg, with a 
considerable territory; and the Emperor reserved to himself twelve du- 
chies in Italy, which he bestowed on the principal officers of his army. 

Although Joseph Bonaparte was thus easily placed on the throne, he 

soon had occasion to learn the precarious tenure of his power. He had 

hardly returned to Naples from a visit into Sicily, when an English fleet 

wrested from him the island of Capri, which bounds the horizon south of 

G2 



196 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap.XXIV. 

the Bay of Naples, and nothing but the generous forbearance of the Eng- 
lish commander, Sir Sidney Smith, saved his capital and palace from a 
bombardment amid the light of a festive illumination. A more serious 
disaster soon occurred in the southern prpvinces of his dominions. An 
insurrection had broken out in Calabria, which threatened to overturn his 
government in that quarter ; and the English commanders in Sicily re- 
solved on an expedition by sea and land, to relieve the fortress of Gaeta, 
and encourage the insurgents, a part of whom were there besieged by the 
French troops under Massena. In the beginning of July, an expedition 
also set sail from Palermo, consisting of five thousand men commanded 
by Sir John Stuart, who landed at St. Euphemia. The English general 
here learned that a French force, under Regnier, seven thousand five 
hundred strong, was encampe4 at Maida, about ten miles distant, and he 
immediately moved forward to attack them. Both parties contested the 
field Avith great bravery ; but at length British intrepidity prevailed 
over the French numbers and enthusiasm, and Regnier was forced ta 
retreat, leaving one half of his army on the field, in killed, wounded and 
prisoners. 

The battle of Maida, though it hardly attracted the notice of the 
French people, dazzled as they were by the blaze of Ulm and Auster- 
litz, had an important bearing on the progress of events : for, insignifi- 
cant as were the numbers of the troops, and the immediate results of 
the contest, the victory gave proof that the English soldiers were an 
overmatch for Napoleon's veterans : it created an ardent desire through- 
out the British Empire, for an opportunity to measure their national 
strength with the conquerors of Continental Europe on a larger field ; and 
it went far to reconcile all parties to a vigorous continuance of the war. 

The conquest of Naples, and the assumption of the Sicilian throne by 
the brother of Napoleon, together with the other partitions of Italy as 
already related, were not the only usurpations that followed the peace 
of Presburg. The old commonwealth of Holland was also destined to 
receive a master from the victorious Emperor, in the person of his brother 
Louis, who, as " in the existing state of Europe, a hereditary govern- 
ment could alone guaranty the independence, and secure the civil and 
religious privileges of the realm," was, on the 5th of June, declared 
King of Holland. The same day on which this event took place, an am- 
bassador arrived at Paris from the Grand Siguier of Turkey, to congratu- 
late Napoleon on his accession to the Imperial dignity, and friendly 
relations were soon established between the two powers. 

The victory of Trafalgar, with the subsequent achievement of Sir 
Richard Strachan, had almost entirely destroyed the combined fleet that 
issued from Cadiz ; but the squadrons of Rochefort and Brest still re- 
mained, and Napoleon resolved to turn their resources to account. Half 
of the Brest fleet, consisting of eleven ships of the line, were victualled 
for six months ; and, in the middle of December, 1805, when the Eng- 
lish blockading fleet had been blown off" the station by violent winds, 
these eleven ships put to sea accompanied by four frigates, and in two 
divisions were dispatched, the one to St. Domingo, and the other to the 
Cape of Good Hope. Admiral Duckworth pursued the former of these 
squadrons, with seven ships of the line and four frigates, and on the 6th 
of February attacked them in the harbor of St. Domingo. The French 
frigates made their escape, but three of the ships of the line were cap- 



1806.J HISTORY OF EUROPE. 197 

tured, and the other two drifted ashore and were burned. Of the six 
ships of the line dispatched for the Cape of Good Hope, two were cap- 
tured by the British, one was driven ashore and burned, another was 
chased into Havana in a disabled condition, and two made good their re- 
treat to France. About the same time, a British squadron under Sir 
John Warren, captured two sail of the line, and the Belle Poule frigate, 
commanded by Admiral Linois, on their return from the Indian Ocean; 
and Sir Samuel Hood made prize of four, out of five French frigates, 
bound for the West Indies with troops on board. 

This almost total annihilation of the French navy, was followed by a 
reduction of the remaining Dutch forces at the Cape of Good Hope, and 
the final conquest of that peninsula ; and, early in the summer, Sir 
Howe Popham took possession of Buenos Ayres ; but, in this instance, 
the captured province was not occupied with a sufficient force, and the 
inhabitants retook it on the 4th of August. 

About the same period, some differences arose between the United 
States of America and Great Britain, which threatened to be followed 
by important consequences. The grievances in which the difficulty 
originated, were such as unquestionably gave the Americans much 
ground for complaint, although no fault could be imputed to the English 
maritime policy, for they were the necessary result of the Americans' 
having engrossed so large a portion of the carrying-trade between the 
belligerent powers of Europe. The first subject of complaint was the 
impressment of seamen, claimed to be British subjects, in the American 
service : the next, the alleged violation of neutral rights, by the seizure 
and condemnation, under certain circumstances, of vessels engaged in 
the carrying-trade of France. To these serious and lasting subjects of 
discord, was added the irritation produced by an unfortunate shot from 
the British ship Leander, on the coast of America, which killed an 
American citizen, and produced so violent a disturbance, that Mr. Jeffer- 
son issued an intemperate proclamation, prohibiting the crew of that and 
some other English vessels from entering the harbors of the United 
States. Meetings took place in the principal cities of the Union, at 
which violent resolutions were passed by acclamation. Congress dis- 
cussed the subject, and, after some preliminary decrees, passed a non- 
importation act against the manufactures of Great Britain. The English 
people were equally loud in asserting their maritime rights, and a new 
trans-Atlantic war seemed to be inevitable. But, fortunately for both 
countries, whose real interests are not more closely united than their 
popular passions are at variance, J;he adjustment of the matters in dis- 
pute was left to wiser and cooler heads than the vehement populace of 
either. Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinckney were sent as commissioners to 
England, and by conferences with Lords Holland and Auckland, the dif- 
ferences were amicably reconciled. 

The cabinet of Berlin was greatly embarrassed on receiving intelli- 
gence of the treaty concluded between Haugwitz and Napoleon at Vienna. 
On the one hand, the object at which their ambition had for ten years 
been directed, seemed about to be obtained by the possession of Hano- 
ver ; but, on the other hand, some remains of conscience made them feel 
ashamed at thus partitioning a friendly power, and they were not without 
fear of offending Alexander, by openly despoiling his faithful ally. At 
length, however, the magnitude of the temptation prevailed over the 
G3 



108 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap XXIV. 

king's better principles, and he determined not simply to ratify the treaty, 
but to send it back to Paris with certain modifications ; and, to give a 
color to the transaction, as well, perhaps, as a salvo to his own sense of 
justice, he offered to accept the proposed exchange of Hanover for cer- 
tain southern provinces of Prussia, on condition that such exchange 
should be deferred till a general peace was ratified, and the consent of 
Great Britain obtained. At the same moment, it was represented to the 
English minister at Berlin, that arrangements had been concluded with 
France for insuring the tranquillity of Flanover, which " stipulated ex- 
pressly the committing of that country to the sole guard of the Prussian 
troops, and to the administration of the king, until the conclusion of a 
general peace." But not a word was said of any ulterior designs to an- 
nex Hanover to the Prussian dominions. Napoleon, however, who saw 
through this equivocation, and determined that Prussia should take defi- 
nite ground on one side or the other, apprised the cabinet of Berlin, that 
the treaty of Vienna had not been ratified within the prescribed time, 
and was therefore no longer binding on France. This step was decisive. 
On the 15th of February, Haugwitz signed a new treaty, which was rati- 
fied on the 26th, and carried into immediate execution, by which Hanover 
was openly ceded to Prussia, and her ports closed against the British flag : 
the Prussian troops accordingly took formal possession of the territory. 

The moment that the British government ascertained these facts, they 
recalled their ambassador from Berlin, declared the Prussian harbors in 
a state of blockade, and laid an embargo on all Prussian vessels in Eng- 
lish ports. Within a few weeks, the Prussian flag v/as swept from the 
ocean, and four hundred of her merchant ships fell into the hands of the 
British cruisers. 

In consenting to this infamous treaty with France, the cabinet of Ber- 
lin were actuated by a desire for gain, together with a wish to deprecate 
the wrath and conciliate the favor of Napoleon ; and it is well to know 
how far the latter objects were accomplished. " From the moment," 
says Bignon, "that the treaty of the 15th of February was signed. Napo- 
leon did more than hate Prussia ; he entertained toward that power the 
most profound contempt. All his views from that day were based on 
considerations foreign to her alliance, and he pursued his plans as if that 
alliance no longer existed." His hostility and contempt soon appeared 
in his occupation of the abbacies of Werden, Essen and Elten, without 
any regard to the claims of Prussia ; in his levying large contributions 
from Frankfort and Hamburg ; and in his seizing, at Bremen, a large 
quantity of merchandise, merely suspected to be British, and committing 
it to the flames. The Imperial robber afterward exacted six millions of 
francs, in this time of profound peace, from Hamburg and the Hanse 
Towns, as the price of his military protection. 

Napoleon next proceeded to form a general treaty with the Kings of 
Bavaria and Wirtemberg, the Archbishop of Ratisbon, the Elector of 
Baden, the Grand-Duke of Berg, the Landgrave of Hesse d'Armstadt, 
the Princes of Nassau, Hohenzollern, Sigmasingen, Salm-Salm, Salm- 
Kerbourg, Isemberg-Birchestein, Litchtenstein d'Aremberg, the Count de 
la Leyen and the Grand-Duke of Wurtzberg — which compact is known 
as the Confederation of the Rhine. By this treaty, the states in alliance 
were declared to be for ever separated from the Germanic Empire, inde- 
pendent of any power foreign to the Confederacy, and placed under the 



1806.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 199 

protection of the Emperor of the French ; moreover, hostility committed 
against any one of the parties was to be considered as a declaration of 
war against the whole. The Emperor Francis, justly considering this 
measure as subversive of his Empire, solemnly renounced the throne of 
the Ccssars, and declared himself the first Emperor of Austria independ- 
ent of the hereditary states. 

This separation, however, seemed likely to prove as serious to Prussia 
as to Austria, by bringing the hostile influence of France so close to the 
frontiers of the former power ; and it accordingly produced a great sen- 
sation in Berlin. But this and some preceding causes of complaint sunk 
into comparative insignificance, when it was discovered, that Napoleon 
had proposed to enter into negotiations with England, on the basis of 
restoring Hanover to its lawful sovereign, and made advances to Russia, 
promising to throw no obstacle in the way of a reestablishment of the 
kingdom of Poland and Polish Prussia, in favor of the Grand-Duke Gon- 
stantine. Irritated beyond endurance, and anxious to regain the place 
that he was conscious he had lost in the estimation of Europe, the King 
of Prussia immediately put his armies on the war footing, dispatched M. 
Krusemark to St. Petersburg and M. Lacobi to London, to seek a recon- 
ciliation with those powers, opened the navigation of the Elbe, concluded 
his differences with Sweden, and ordered his troops to defile in the direc- 
tion of Leipsic. 

The efforts of Prussia to regain friendly relations with England and 
Russia were soon crowned with success — the cabinets of both countries 
being willing to forgive and overlook her gross meanness and duplicity, 
in consideration of her now honestly throwing her whole force into the 
scale against France : but a similar attempt to engage Austria in the 
compact totally failed. The cabinet of Vienna, with too much justice, 
took the ground that the conduct of Prussia for ten years had been so 
dubious and vacillating, her hostility to Austria on many occasions so 
evident, her partiality for France so conspicuous, and her changes of 
policy during the last twelve months so extraordinary, no reliance what- 
ever could be placed on her maintaining for any length of time a decided 
course ; least of all could it be hoped, that she would continue stedfast in 
the sudden and perilous undertaking in which she had now engaged ; her 
very vehemence, on this occasion, being the worst possible guaranty for 
her constancy. Besides, the Archduke Charles, on being consulted as to 
the state of the army, reported that the troops were without pay, organi- 
zation and equipment, and in no condition to renew the war from which 
they had so recently and deplorably suffered. In one quarter, however, 
and where it was least expected, Prussia received encouragement and 
promise of cooperation, though at the moment there were no means of 
making the aid available : this was from the government of Spain, which, 
tired of Napoleon's exhausting demands upon her treasury, and at last 
opening her eyes, as Prussia had done, to the real designs of the French 
Emperor, resolved to terminate her ruinous alliance with him and, at a 
convenient opportunity, join her arms to those of the enemies of France. 

The whole weight of the contest was, therefore, destined to fall on 
Prussia alone; for although great and efficacious assistance might in 
time be derived from England and Russia, the Muscovite battalions were 
yet cantoned on the Niemen, those of England had not sailed from the 
Thames ; while Napoleon, at the head of a hundred and eighty thousand 



200 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXIV. 

veteran soldiers, was rapidly approaching the Thuringian Forest, whither 
the rash haste of Prussia, by her premature declaration of hostilities, had 
given him abundant pretext for concentrating his troops. And not only 
had she precipitated this terrible invasion, without first assuring herself 
of support from her allies; but she had also neglected the proper appli- 
cation of her own resources for defence. Her entire disposable force did 
not exceed a hundred and thirty thousand men ; and when these took the 
field, no depots of magazines or provisions had been formed, no measures 
taken for recruiting the army in case of disaster, no rallying points as- 
signed for the retreating troops if defeated, nor were the frontier or 
interior fortresses of the kingdom provisioned, armed or garrisoned in a 
manner to render them capable of a protracted resistance. A general 
and deplorable infatuation seemed to possess the whole people. They 
seemed either to forget or despise the strength of their redoubtable adver- 
sary; and, in the same mad proportion, to exaggerate their own. Care- 
less of the future, and chanting songs of victory, the army bent its steps 
toward Erfruth, dreaming of nothing but conquest and the overthrow of 
Napoleon. Great as was the infatuation of the troops, greater still was 
the delusion of their commander, the Duke of Brunswick, who, though 
an able man of the last century, was behind the present age, and totally 
ignorant of the perilous chances of a war with the veterans of France. 
He attributed the disasters of the late campaigns entirely to timidity and 
want of skill in the Austrians, and maintained, that the way to combat the 
French was to assume a vigorous offensive, and paralyze their enthusiasm 
by holding them to defensive positions — a sound theory indeed, but one 
which required an army differently constituted from any that Prussia 
could muster, to carry out in practice. Besides, there was one thing of 
which the Prussians, from the general-in-chief to the lowest drummer, 
were entirely unaware — namely, the terrible vehemence and rapidity 
vvhich Napoleon had introduced into modern warfare, by the union of 
consummate skill at head-quarters with enormous masses of troops in the 
field; and thus, falling into the common error of applying to the present 
the antiquated rules of the past, they based their calculations on a war 
of manoeuvres, when one of annihilation awaited them. 

The respective armies pressed forward to the contest ; and, on the 8th 
of October, their advanced posts were in sight of each other. The line 
adopted by the Prussians was an echellon movement with the right in 
front, which was pushed on to Eisenach; next in order followed the 
centre, commanded by the king in person, who, in connexion with the 
left wing, under Hohenlohe and Ruchel, advanced upon Saalfield and 
Jena ; while each wing was covered by a detached corps of observation, 
one under Blucher and the other under Tauenzein. The design of this 
movement was, by a flank march, to pierce the base of the enemy's posi- 
tion, and, by turning at once their centre and left, cut them off from their 
communications with France. It was precisely the manoeuvre under- 
taken by the allies dt Austerlitz, excepting that the main bodies of the two 
armies were not so near each other, and was of course liable, in its very 
inception, to the same disastrous result. 

Napoleon was not likely to lose this opportunity of at once defeating 
and destroying the Prussian army. At three o'clock in the morning of 
the 9th of October, the French troops were in motion. On the right, 
Soult and Ney, with a Bavarian division, marched from Bayreuth by 



180G.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 201 

Hof, on Plauen; in the centre, Murat, with Bernadotte and Davoust, 
moved from Bamberg by Cronach, on Saalbourg; on the left, Lannes 
and Augereau advanced by Coburg and Graffenthal,*on Saalfield. The 
effect of these movements was, to bring the French centre and right 
directly on the Prussian communications and reserves. 

The Prussians were in the midst of their perilous advance toward the 
French left, when intelligence of this change of their opponents' position 
reached the Duke of Brunswick. He instantly sent orders to arrest the 
march of his troops, and directed their concentration in the neighborhood 
of Weimar. But before this movement could be accomplished, the 
French skirmishers were upon their flanks, and in every quarter they 
were forced to retreat with considerable loss. As yet, however, the 
contest on both sides had been confined to detachments of light troops, 
the principal force of the respective armies being yet too distant from 
each other for a general action. But, in the meantime. Napoleon had 
gained the whole line of the Prussian communications, and cut off every 
chance of retreat. Three days were consumed in partial engagements 
and important changes of position, every one of which resulted to the 
advantage of the French. On the evening of the 12th, the corps of 
Hohenlohe, consisting of about forty thousand men, was grouped in dense 
masses on a ridge of heights on the road from Jena to Weimar : the 
remainder of the army, about sixty-five thousand strong, under the Duke 
of Brunswick, and accompanied by the king, lay about a league in the 
rear of Hohenlohe. But while the Prussians were thus advantageously 
posted, they learned that Murat and Davoust had advanced upon Naum- 
berg ; on which the Duke of Brunswick, desirous to protect that town, 
and not suspecting that Napoleon contemplated an immediate action, 
moved with the principal part of his corps to Auerstadt, where he arrived 
at night cm the 13th, leaving Hohenlohe at Jena to cover his retreat. 
During th*same day, Napoleon took up his position on the heights oppo- 
site Jena, and made arrangements for a pitched battle on the following 
morning, without dreaming that the Prussians had thus insanely divided 
their forces. 

A^ six o'clock on the 14th, the French commenced the attack, and the 
Prussians, though taken entirely by surprise, received it with great intre- 
pidity. But their numbers were only forty thousand men, while the 
French exceeded ninety thousand ; and notwithstanding the determined 
bravery with which they fought, it was impossible to avoid a terrible 
defeat. Column after column of fresh troops poured in upon them, the 
field was strewed with their dead and wounded, and at length they gave 
way at all points and fled in tumultuous confusion, pursued by the cavalry 
of Murat. At this moment, Ruchel arrived with a reenforcement of 
twenty thousand men ; a force which, under different circumstances, 
might have changed the fortune of the day ; but after a desperate combat 
of one hour's duration, they, too, were broken, dispersed and almost anni- 
hilated. It was no longer a battle, but a massacre. The Prussians, 
abandoning their artillery and all form of discipline, fled to Weimar, 
where the victors entered pell-mell with the fugitives. 

While Hohenlohe and Ruchel were suffering this fearful disaster, the 
King of Prussia was fighting under different circumstances, though with 
little better success, at Auerstadt. Davoust, being posted near the king's 
encampment, had that morning received a dispatch from Napoleon — who 



202 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXIV. 

had not yet heard of the Duke of Brunswick's movement upon Auerstadt 
— announcing his intention of giving battle to the whole Prussian army 
at Jena, and directing him (Davoust) to fall on the Prussian rear, in order 
to cut off its retreat. The French marshal's corps, thirty thousand strong, 
though fully competent to check the flight of a routed army, would have 
seemed to be scarcely able to withstand the shock of sixty thousand well 
disciplined troops, who, commanded by the king and the Duke of Bruns. 
wick, occupied the route designated for Davoust to pursue in Napoleon's 
dispatch. But he, as well as his Emperor, was ignorant of the force 
opposed to him, and without hesitation he began his march up the long 
and steep ascent which bounds the plateau of Auerstadt. He had already 
gained the defile of Koessen, and his vanguard was foi-ming on the field 
beyond, when the straggling columns of the Prussians, not anticipating 
an attack at this point, crossed his path. A skirmish ensued, which, being 
promptly followed up by the advancing forces on each side, soon became 
a battle that raged without intermission during the whole day. The 
Prussian army was greatly superior to its opponents in numbers ; and in 
discipline and courage, was inferior to none in Europe ; but the French 
troops, in addition to their high discipline, had the material advantage of 
long experience and constant service in the field, to which the Prussians 
had been strangers, through a protracted interval of peace ; and Davoust 
occupied a position of defiles, which, in a great degree, compensated for 
his deficiency of numerical strength. The battle resulted in the total 
defeat of the Prussians, who retreated with great loss ; and Davoust, who 
had won imperishable military renown by such a victory against such 
odds, encamped on the scene of his triumph. 

The King of Prussia, late at night, gave directions for the retreat of 
the army upon Weimar, intending to form a junction with Hohenlohe, of 
whose discomfiture he was yet ignorant. But as the troops, in extreme 
dejection, were following the great road which leads to that ^ace, they 
were startled by the sight of an extensive line of bivouac fires on the 
heights of Apolda, where Bernadotte was posted with his entire corps, 
not having taken part in either action. This sudden apparition of a fresh 
army of unknown strength on the flank of their retreat, compelled "the 
Prussians, at that untimely hour, to change their line and abandon the 
great road. At the same time, rumors began to circulate through the 
ranks of a catastrophe at Jena ; and the appearance of fugitives from that 
quarter, moving in the utmost haste athwart the king's route, soon an- 
nounced the magnitude of that overthrow. A general consternation now 
seized the men. Despair took possession of the stoutest hearts ; and as 
the cross-tide of the broken battalions of Jena mingled with the wreck of 
the masses of Auerstadt, the confusion became inextricable, the panic 
universal. Infantry, cavalry and artillery disbanded, and fled in hopeless 
disorder across the fields without direction, command, or rallying-point. 

The loss of the Prussians in the two batt^^es was prodigious ; it amounted 
to nearly forty thousand men — of whom one half were prisoners — two 
hundred pieces of cannon and twenty-five standards ; and the conse- 
quences of the retreat were not less disastrous. The unusual occurrence 
of four generals being killed or mortally wounded, left the confused mass 
of fugitives without a leader, and they therefore fled wherever chance 
directed their steps. Fourteen thousand of the stragglers, arriving from 
different points, made their way into Erfurth, a place capable, under other 



1806.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. ^ 203 

circumstances, of permanent defence ; but the entire number surrendered 
on the following day, with a hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, to the 
first corps of the enemy that approached the town. On the 16th, three 
thousand men with twenty pieces of cannon, surrendered at Nordhausen, 
and on the 17th, four thousand men and thirty pieces of cannon were taken 
at Halle ; while the killed and wounded in the contests where these cap- 
tures were made, bore a large proportion to the number of prisoners. 
The king surrendered the command of the remnants of his army to Ho- 
henlohe, and retired to Magdebourg, where Hohenlohe soon followed him 
wfth about twenty-six thousand men, to protect that important fortress. 
The French pursuit, however, was so rapid, that they arrived at Magde- 
bourg before the bewildered Prussians had all taken refuge within its 
walls. Hohenlohe, finding it would be impossible to maintain the place, 
resolved to evacuate it with such of the troops as yet preserved any ap- 
pearance of order ; and he accordingly withdrew on the side opposite to 
the French position with fourteen thousand men, and made for Stettin, 
abandoning Berlin to its fate, and leaving twelve thousand disorganized 
combatants to defend themselves as they might at Magdebourg. 

But the discomfitures of the Prussian general were not yet at an end. 
Wherever he directed his march, he found himself opposed by superior 
forces of the enemy ; and, after undergoing incredible hardships and fa- 
tigue, and displaying withal conduct and bravery worthy a better fate, he 
at length, on the 28th of October, was forced to surrender with his whole 
army at Prentzlow. On the same day, in obedience to the summons of 
Marshal Lannes, the governor of the fortress of Stettin, on the Oder, 
capitulated without firing a shot ; and, such was the terror inspired by 
the very appearance of a French detachment, the fortress of Custrin, with 
four thousand men, opened its gates on the 31st to the bare command of a 
single regiment of infantry, led by General Gauthier, and supplied with 
but two pieces of cannon. The disgrace and literal absurdity of this 
capitulation was made more conspicuous from the fact, that the French 
soldiers could not take possession of the fortress — it being situated on an 
island in the Oder — until the garrison supplied them with boats for the 
purpose ! 

The only corps of the Prussian army which had hitherto escaped de- 
struction, v.as that formed by the union of Blucher's cavalry with the Duke 
of Saxe Weimar's infantry, and commanded by the former of these gen- 
erals ; w\]p, after drawing reenforcements from some ill-defended interior 
fortresses, found himself at the head of twenty-four thousand men of all 
arms, including sixty pieces of cannon. Blucher first moved toward 
Magdebourg, which had not at that time surrendered to the invaders ; but 
finding his progress interrupted by nearly sixty thousand of the enemy, 
he fell back to Lubec. Here, again, his march was impeded by thrice 
his own number of men under Bernadotte : he nevertheless made an en- 
trance into the town, and defended it until near nightfall with invincible 
obstinacy ; but his loss in the affair was immense, and in the evening he 
was glad to retreat with five thousand men to Schwertau, where his cav- 
alry awaited him. He here ascertained that further resistance was hope- 
less, as he was completely enveloped by his indefatigable enemies ; and he 
capitulated on the summons of Murat, yielding his whole force, with his 
artillery and baggage, into the hands of the French troops. This took 
place on the 7th of November. On the 8th, Magdebourg surrendered with 



204 HISTORYOFEUROPE. fCiiAP. XXIV. 

its garrison of fourteen thousaml troops under arms, four thousand in hos- 
pital, six hundred pieces of cannon, ciglit hundred thousand pounds of 
powder, and extensive military stores of all sorts. The fortresses of 
Hameln and Nieubourg on the Weser, soon followed the example of 
Magdebourg, and their respective garrisons, augmented by stragglers to 
eight tliousand men, yielded themselves prisoners of war. 

In this deplorable extremity, the King of Prussia sought to obtain condi- 
tions of peace; but Napoleon, who had resolved on utterly destroying his 
unfortunate enemy, coldly replied to the ambassador, that it was premature 
to speak of peace when the campaign was scarcely begun, and that the 
king, having chosen the arbitrament of arms, must abide the issue. 

On the 'Jtith of October, Napoleon made a triumphal entry into Ber- 
lin ; and, in order as much as possible to lacerate the feelings of his van- 
quished antagonists, he caused the procession to pass under the arch of the 
Great Frederic, and himself took up his residence at the old palace. In 
addition to this, he paraded a large body of prisoners through their na- 
tive streets of Berlin, as an expression of his contempt for their misfor- 
tunes ; he heaped all manner of indignity and cruelty on the nobles of the 
capital ; and the brave old Duke of Brunswick, respectable from his age, 
his former achievements and his honorable sears, autl at that moment mor- 
tally wounded, was driven by the persecutions of the French Emperor to 
take refuge in Altona, where he soon after expired. 

The French armies, without meeting any further resistance, took posses- 
sion of the whole country between the Rhine and the Oder ; and in the 
rear of the victorious troops appeared the dismal scourge of military con- 
tributions : one hundred and sixty millions of francs were demanded, and 
the rapacity of the French agents employed in its collection aggravated 
the weight and odious nature of the imposition. Early in November, 
Napoleon issued a decree, separating the conquered state into four 
departments, namely, Berlin, Magdebourg, Stettin and Custrin ; and the 
military and civil government of the whole was intrusted to a governor- 
general at Berlin, appointed by the Emperor, and subject in all respects 
to his control. The same system of usurpation was extended to the Duchy 
of Brunswick, the states of Hesse and Hanover, the Duchy of Mecklen- 
berg and the Hanse Towns. Napoleon announced his intention to retain 
these territories until England should concede to him the liberty of the seas. 
Negotiations for peace between France and Prussia were in the mean time 
conmienced, but Napoleon's demands were so exorbitant that the king re- 
solved, even in his present state of helplessness, to abide the continuance 
of the war, rather than accede to them. 

When this was decided, the main body of the French army pushed on 
to the Vistula to engage the forces of Russia. Napoleon made a brief 
halt at Posen, in Prussian Poland, where he gave audience to the deputies 
of that unhappy country, and made them promises of protection which he 
never performed. At the same time, as the contingent losses of so vast a 
body of men in constant service, even though always victorious, were con- 
siderable, the Senate at Paris, on the Emperor's requisition, voted a reen- 
Ibrcement of eighty thousand conscripts from the youth who would arrive 
at the lawful age in 1807. The Elector of Saxony was at this time ele- 
vated to the dignity of a king, and, as such, admitted into the Confedera- 
tion of the Rhine. 

The campaign of Jena was the most marvellous of Napoleon's achieve- 



1806.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 205 

ments. Without halting one day before the forces of the enemy, the 
French troops had marched from the Rhine to the Vistula ; three hundred 
and fifty standards, four thousand pieces of cannon, six first-rate fortresses, 
and eighty thousand prisoners, had been taken in less than seven weeks : 
and of a noble array of a hundred and twenty thousand mon, who were so 
lately mustered on the banks of the Saale, not more than fifteen thousand 
could be rallied to follow the fortunes of the Prussian king. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

CAMPAIGN OF EYLATT. 

Althottgh the campaign of Jena had nearly destroyed the power of 
Prussia, Russia was yet untouched, and while her formidable legions were 
in the field, the war was very far from being terminated. Napoleon felt 
this, as the armies of the two Empires approached the Vistula at a season 
of the year when, in ordinary contests, the soldier's only care is to protect 
himself against the rigor of the elements. The efficient force of the 
French, who were concentrated on the destined theatre of war early in 
December, amounted to one hundred thousand men ; while the allied 
army of Russia and Prussia, owing to the expedition of a large detachment 
to the Turkish dominions, could not be estimated at more than seventy-five 
thousand. Field-marshal Kamenskoi, who had the command in-chief of 
this force, was a veteran of the school of Suwarrow, nearly eighty years 
of age, and little qualified to enter the lists with Napoleon ; but the ability 
of Benningsen and Buxhowden, the two next in command, promised, in 
part, to atone for the old marshal's deficiencies. 

The cabinet of St. Petersburg had foreseen that the rapidity of Napo- 
leon's movements would give the French a numerical superiority on the 
Vistula, unless Russia could receive some material aid in bringing for- 
ward her troops ; and they therefore made early application to Great 
Britain, for a portion of those subsidies which she had so liberally granted 
on former occasions, to the powers who combated the common enemy of 
European independence ; and, considering that the whole weight of the 
conte.st had now fallen on Russia, they solicited, and not without reason, 
a loan of six millions sterling. The answer to this application, proved 
too clearly that the spirit of Pitt no longer directed the British councils. 
The subsidy was declined on the part of the government, but the minis- 
ters proposed that a loan sliould be contracted in England, for the service 
of Russia, and that, for the security of the lenders, the duties on British 
merchandise then levied in the Russian ports, should be repealed, and 
the same duties, in lieu thereof, levied in the British ports and applied to 
the payment of the interest on the loan. This strange proposal, equiva- 
lent to a declaration of want of confidence both in the integrity and sol- 
vency of the Russian government, was of course rejected, and, to the 
lasting discredit of England, Russia was left to contend unaided with the 
power of France. 

The advanced posts of the allied army had reached the Vistula, though 



206 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXV. 

not in great force, before the French troops came up ; but on the arrival 
of the latter, the allies fell back to Pultusk, and Davoust occupied War- 
saw on the 30th of November. When, however, the second Russian 
army, under Buxhowden, approached Pultusk, Kamenskoi resolved on a 
forward movement. Head-quarters were advanced to Nasielsk, and the 
four divisions of Benningsen's corps took post between the Ukra, the Bug, 
and the Narew ; while Buxhowden's divisions, as they successively ar- 
rived, were stationed between Golymin and Makow ; and Lestocq, on the 
extreme right, encamped near the banks of the Drewentz almost under 
the walls of Thorn. The object of this general advance was to compel 
the French to withdraw entirely from the right bank of the Vistula, that 
the river might interpose between the winter-quarters of the tv/o armies. 

When Napoleon heard of this forward movement, he hastened to War- 
saw, where he arrived on the 18th of December, and was welcomed as a 
deliverer by the inhabitants. The nobility flocked into the capital from 
all quarters, the peasantry assembled and demanded arms, the national 
dress was generally resumed, several regiments of horse were raised, 
and before the close of the campaign, no less than thirty thousand men 
were enrolled in disciplined regiments from the Prussian provinces of 
Poland. But this universal enthusiasm did not lead Napoleon to forget 
his own policy, which was to encourage this revolt in Prussian Poland 
only, lest by extending it to the Austrian portion of that ancient kingdom, 
he might rouse the cabinet of Vienna from its neutrality. In his decree, 
therefore, by which he established a provisional government in Warsaw, 
he was careful to say, that such government would continue only " un- 
til the fate of Prussian Poland was determined by a general peace ;" 
and this, in connexion with his other measures, showed to the reflecting 
and prudent, that while he was resolved to make the utmost use of Po- 
lish couperation in pursuing his own plans of aggrandizement, he would 
abandon this unfortunate people to their own resources, the moment he 
ceased to need their aid, or was unable to render it available to himself. 

Some skirmishes had already taken place betv/een detachments of the 
two armies, which ended in favor of the Russians ; but when Napoleon 
took command in person, he gave orders for more serious operations. 
On the 23rd of December, he directed Davoust to force the passage of 
the Ukra, which had hitherto bounded the French lines ; and, after a 
severe action of fourteen hours, the passage was effected, with a loss to 
each army of one thousand men. The allies fell back toward Pultusk, 
and being pursued, another conflict took place in front of Nasielsk, be- 
tween Genei'al Rapp and the Russians under Count Tolstoy, in which 
the latter were worsted, but not without inflicting a severe loss on the 
victors ; in this aflair, an aid-de-camp of Alexander was made prisoner 
by the French, and Count Segur, attached to Napoleon's household, fell 
into the hands of the Russians. On the same day, Augereau, after fight- 
ing from morning until sunset at Lochoczyn, forced a Russian division 
to retire ; so that, although no decisive advantage had yet been gained, 
the whole allied army were now in full retreat upon diverging lines, and 
every moment the several corps were separating farther from each other. 

Kamenskoi was so much discouraged at the aspect of affairs, that he 
ordered the artillery to be destroyed, lest it should too much impede the 
flight of the troops ; but Benningsen, deeming such an order unnecessary, 
and convinced that it resulted from an approaching insanity, which soon 



1806.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 207 

entirely overset the mind of the veteran marshal, took upon himself the 
bold step of disobeying it ; and, in order to gain time for the cannon and 
equipages to defile in the rear, he resolved to maintain his position at 
Pultusk with all the troops at his disposal, amounting to about forty thou- 
sand men ; while the divisions of DoctorofT, Sacken and Gallitzin, at 
Golymin, made a stand against Augereau, who was supported by a part 
of Davoust's and Murat's corps. Benningsen drew up his army in 
admirable order, in front of the town of Pultusk ; his right wing was 
commanded by Barclay de Tolly and Count Tolstoy, his left by Sacken, 
and the centre by himself in person. Lannes, with thirt}^-five thousand 
men, advanced to the attack on the morning of the 26th. The battle was 
contested at various points until long after dai'k, when a terrible storm 
separated the combatants. Neither party could boast of decided success. 
The Russians remained masters of the field till midwight, when they 
crossed the Narew by the bridge of Pultusk^ and retired in perfect order : 
the French also retreated to such a distance, that when the Cossacks, the 
next day, patroled eight miles beyond the battle-ground toward Warsaw, 
they could discover no traces of the enemy. The French lost six thou- 
sand men, and the Russians nearly five thousand. The action at Goly- 
min, about thirty miles from Pultusk, which took place on the same day, 
terminated in a similar manner : the Russians, under Prince Gallitzin, 
remained in possession of the field, and although they lost twenty-six 
pieces of cannon, owing to the bad state of the roads, their killed and 
wounded was something less than two thousand, while the French loss 
exceeded four thousand men. As the Russian order for retreat still held 
good. Prince Gallitzin, at midnight, resumed his march for Ostrolenka. 
On the 28th, Napoleon reached Golymin, but finding that from the con- 
dition ofiithe roads, and the obstinate valor of the Russian troops, it was 
impossible to gain any material advantage by the campaign, he issued 
orders to stop the advance of his columns, and put the troops into winter- 
quarters, while he himself returned with the Imperial Guards to War- 
saw. As soon as the Russians learned that the French had withdrawn 
from their pursuit, they also went into winter-quarters on the left bank 
of the Narew. 

This desperate struggle in the forests of Poland in the depth of winter, 
created a great sensation throughout Europe. Independent of the inte- 
rest excited by the extraordinary spectacle of two vast armies' prolonging 
their contest amid the storms and snows of a Polish winter, the divided 
trophies of the actions indicated that Napoleon's veterans had finally 
encountered their equals in the^eld ; and that the torrent of French 
conquest, if not averted, had at least been stemmed. 

While the French armies were in cantonments on the right bank of 
the Vistula, Benningsen, who had now been appointed to the chief com- 
mand of the allied forces, resolved to commence an offensive operation 
against the French left under Bernadotte and Ney, who, with nearly 
seventy thousand men, had extended themselves so as to menace Konings- 
berg, the second city of the Prussian dominions, while at the same time 
^y were threatening Dantzic and Graudentz. For this purpose, the 
-■^^'sian general, v/hose movements were concealed by the forests that 
s^P'j'ated him from the French lines, rapidly united his divisions and 
pushe forvvard to Rhein, in Eastern Prussia, where he established his 
heaa-q.^j,^.gj.g qj^ ^j^g j^^^*}^ gf January. On the 19th, the Russian cav 



208 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXV. 

airy, under Gallitzin, surprised and defeated the light horse of Marshal 
Nay, and on the 22nd a severe action took place at Lecberg, whence 
the French cavalry were driven toward Allenstein. Bernadotte, alarmed 
at this sudden irruption, made great efforts to concentrate his forces at 
Mohrungen, where, on the 24th, he was attacked by Benningsen's ad- 
vanced guard. Had this attack been delayed for a few hours, until the 
entire Russian corps had reached the field, the French would have been 
totally destroyed ; as it resulted, each party lost about two thousand 
men, and Bernadotte retreated toward Thorn, severely pressed by the 
Cossacks, who almost annihilated his rear-guard, and took several thou- 
sand prisoners. Gallitzin had, in the mean time, fallen on the rear of 
Bernadotte 's position, penetrated into the town, and captured the French 
marshal's private baggage, among which were found, as in the den of a 
freebooter, silver plate bearing the arms of almost all the German states, 
besides ten thousand ducats levied for his own use from the town of 
Elbing. 

This narrow escape of both Bernadotte and Ney, excited the utmost 
alarm in the French army ; while, on the other hand, the Russians were 
proportionably elated, and followed up their success by raising the siege 
of Graudentz, and throwing ample supplies into that fortress. Napoleon, 
who had not contemplated a renewal of hostilities until the present in- 
clement season was passed, became, also, greatly disturbed at events 
which rendered it indispensable to expose his troops to a new campaign 
during the severity of a northern winter, and in a country where pro- 
visions could scarcely be obtained for so large a body of men. But there 
was no time for deliberation, as the Russians were advancing to the 
relief of Dantzic, and would soon turn the whole French line of defence. 
By a rapid concentration and forced march, the Emperor had, on ^e 2nd 
of February, made his way to the rear of Benningsen's army, and inter- 
posed between him and the Russian dominions, so that the sole line of 
retreat open to Benningsen lay to the northeast, in the direction of Ko- 
ningsberg and the Niemen. Napoleon endeavored to improve his advan- 
tage, by completely hemming in the Russians, but his dispatches for 
Bernadotte having fallen into Benningsen's hands, that officer was en- 
abled to elude his grasp, and withdraw from Junkowo toward Leibstadt 
on the night of the 3rd of February. 

Murat immediately pursued the retiring Russians with his whole cav- 
alry; and, as the latter had been much retarded during the night by the 
passage of their cannon and baggage through the narrow streets ^of 
Junkowo, the rear-guard was soon ov^taken: the Russians, however, 
fought with such determined bravery, that they effected their retreat in 
perfect order, and their loss, which amounted to fifleen hundred men, 
was no greater than the French sustained in the attack. On the night 
of the 4th, Benningsen reached Frauendorf, where he stood firmly during 
the next day. But a continued retreat in presence of the enemy, soon 
began to be attended with its usual consequences on the troops, and Ben- 
ningsen found it necessary to check the French pursuit by a general 
action. He therefore, after some deliberation, selected the field of Prus- 
sich-Eylau for that purpose, and pushed forward his columns to maj; 
the .requisite dispositions for a battle. On the night of the 5th, he arri"^" 
at Landsberg, where he resisted a spirited attack from Davoust's c-.P^J 
and, on the following day his rear-guard, under Bagrathion, was a-^'^"^^ 



1807.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 209 

by Murat's cavalry and a large part of the corps of Soult and Augereau. 
Bagrathion maintained his ground, however, during the whole day, and 
at night bivouacked in sight of the French army. Toward morning on 
the 7th, he moved on to Prussich-Eylau, where, by noonday, the Rus- 
sian forces were drawn up in order of battle, awaiting only the arrival 
of Lestocq with the remains of the Prussian army. The entire allied 
force, including Lestocq's division, amounted to seventy-five thousand 
men, with four hundred and sixty pieces of cannon ; while the total 
strength of Napoleon was not less than eighty-five thousand, including 
sixteen thousand cavalry, and three hundred and fifty pieces of artillery. 

The field of battle was a wide expanse of ground rising into small hills, 
and well adapted to military operations. The Russian right, under 
Tutschakoff", lay on both sides of Schloditten; the centre, under Sacken, 
occupied a cluster of hills in front of Kuschnitten ; the left, under Tols- 
toy, rested on Klein-Saussgarten ; the advanced guard, ten thousand 
strong, with its outposts extending almost to the village of Eylau, was 
commanded by Bagrathion ; and Doctorofi" held the reserve in the rear 
of Sacken. After Napoleon had carefully reconnoitered this position, on 
the morning of the 8th of February, he resolved to turn the Russian left 
and throw it back upon the centre ; but to conceal his purpose, he com- 
menced a violent attack on the centre and right, pushing forward Auge- 
reau and Soult with bis own left and centre. Augereau had not ad- 
vanced more than three hundred yards, when his troops were arrested 
by a terrible fire of the Russian artillery; a snow storm at the same time 
darkened the atmosphere, so as to prevent the combatants from seeing 
each other, and a charge of Cossacks, whose lances reached the enemy 
before they were aware of their approach, completed the disorder of the 
French division, which fled in the wildest confusion to Eylau. So entire 
was the destruction of Augereau's corps, not more than fifteen hundred 
men, out of sixteen thousand, made good their retreat. 

Napoleon was first apprised of this disaster by the fugitives who hur- 
ried past his position at Eylau, and he nearly fell into the hands of the 
division that pursued them. Soult was by this time also in full retreat 
before the Russian centre ; and to check the advance of the latter. Napo- 
leon formed an enormous column of fourteen thousand cavalry and twenty- 
five thousand infantry, supported by two hundred pieces of cannon, and 
sent them, under Murat, to break the Russian line. The first shock of 
the dragoons was irresistible, and the French cuirassiers, advancing 
through the openings they made, reached Benningsen's reserve of cav- 
alry. They were here immediately charged by Platoff, with his Cos- 
sacks; and, as in the meantime the Russian line had rallied and repelled 
the French infantry, the cuirassiers had no avenue of retreat, and were 
all destroyed excepting eighteen men, who regained their own quarters 
by a long circuit around the Russian outposts. The battle was now won 
on Benningsen's centre and right, but Davoust, who had long been held 
in check on the left, soon after received a reenforcement, carried the 
village of Klein-Saussgarten, and threatened to change the fate of the 
day, when Lestocq arrived with his long-expected corps. He advanced 
with great gallantry to the aid of the left wing, and although Davoust's 
troops were more than double the number of his own, he forced him to 
retreat with great loss, and the whole Russian line was soon pressing 
forward in pursuit of the retreating army of Napoleon, when night sepa- 
rated the combatants. 



210 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXV. 

The losses in this battle were prodigious ; twenty-five thousand men 
were killed or wounded on the side of the Russians ; and thirty thousand 
on that of the French, besides ten thousand who temporarily deserted 
their colors. The Russians lost sixteen guns and fourteen standards, 
and captured twelve French eagles in return. 

Immediately after the battle, Napoleon gave orders for his heavy artil- 
lery and baggage to defile toward Landsberg; but he was relieved from 
the mortification of retreating before an enemy in an open field, by the 
measures of Benningsen, who, in opposition to the wishes and advice of 
his officers, and as yet ignorant of the immense loss and consequent in- 
tentions of the French Emperor, resolved on Vv^ithdrawing toward Ko- 
ningsberg. For nine days, the French remained at Eylau, unable to 
advance, unwilling to retreat, and apparantly awaiting some pacific 
overture from the enemy. Finding, at length, that the Russians man- 
ifested no disposition to propose an armistice. Napoleon resolved himself 
to take that step, and sent General Bertram to Benningsen's outposts with 
proposals of peace to the King of Prussia. The Russian commander sent 
the envoy on to Memel, where that monarch resided, and sent also a 
letter recommending him not to treat. The French officer, on being 
presented to the king, proposed a separate treaty of peace, and on terms 
far different from those which he would have offered after the battle of 
Jena ; but Frederic William could not be induced to negotiate on a 
basis that excluded the Emperor of Russia from the treaty, notwithstand- 
ing the comparatively tempting offea-s that were made to him. 

Foiled in his endeavors to seduce Prussia into a separate accommoda- 
tion, Napoleon at length found himself compelled to retreat. Eylau 
was evacuated, and six hundred wounded men were there abandoned to 
the enemy, while the whole army, retiring by the great road of Lands- 
berg, spread itself into cantonments on the banks of the Passarge, from 
Hohenstein to Braunsberg. Orders were at the same time given to 
resume the siege of Dantzic. 

The bloody contest of Eylau excited the liveliest hopes among the 
people of Germany and England, and the gloom and depression that it 
diffused through all ranks in France were proportionably deep. The 
funds fell rapidly, thousands of families were called to mourn the death 
of relatives, and the general despondency was much increased when the 
message of Napoleon to the Senate, dated March 26th, announced that 
another conscription of eighty thousand men was needed, and must be 
anticipated from the supply not legally due until September of the follow- 
ing year. The number of young men who then annually attained the 
age of eighteen in France, was two hundred thousand ; yet, within seven 
months, Napoleon had called for no less than two hundred and forty 
thousand. This requisition for men was followed by a demand for im- 
mense supplies of stores and ammunition : all the highways converging 
from France and Italy to Poland were covered with troops and baggage- 
wagons; horses followed in great numbers from Holstein, Flanders and 
Saxony, and contributions were levied to an indefinite extent in Germany 
for the maintenance of the army. Indeed, so far did the provident care 
of the Emperor reach, and so strongly did he feel the danger of his posi- 
tion, he made gigantic preparations for a defensive warfare, and strength- 
ened himself by fortresses and intrenchments, in anticipation of a struggle 
for life or death on the banks of the Rhine. 



1807.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 211 

While Napoleon was taking those measures which resulted in the 
battle of Jena, the affairs of Turkey attracted some attention among the 
powers of Europe. As early as August, 1806, the French Emperor had 
sent General Sebastiani to Constantinople, for the express purpose of 
fomenting discontent between Turkey and Russia. By a treaty between 
these two powers, bearing date September 24th, 1802, it had been stipu- 
lated, that the governors of the two Turkish frontier provinces of Walla- 
chia and Moldavia should not be removed from office without the consent 
of Russia; nevertheless, Sebastiani, seizing on this clause as the most 
promising ground for bringing about a rupture, succeeded in persuading 
the Sultan Selim to displace the rulers of those provinces: and as the 
step was taken, not only without the concurrence of Russia, but also 
without the knowledge of the other diplomatic functionaries at Constan- 
tinople, the Russian minister complained loudly of the infraction of the 
treaty, and he was supported by Mr. Arbuthnot, minister from Great 
Britain, who threatened an attack on the Turkish capital by the fleets 
of the two nations. A few days afterward, a Russian brig, which arrived 
at the mouth of the Bosphorus, was denied admission by the Turkish 
authorities : this so enraged the Russian minister, that he embarked on 
board the English brig Canopus, threatening to leave the harbor if the 
two dismissed governors were not replaced ; and the British envoy added, 
that if the demand of Russia were not complied with, an English fleet 
would enter the Dardanelles and lay the Turkish capital in ashes. In- 
timidated by these threats, the Sultan acceded to the demand, and made 
ample promises of satisfaction for the steps he had taken : but it soon 
appeared that he had yielded to the storm only to place himself in a 
condition to brave it, and that his policy and predilections were identified 
with Napoleon's views. In the mean time, intelligence of the rupture, 
but not of its reconciliation, had reached St. Petersburg, and General 
Michelson was dispatched with a powerful army to make an immediate 
descent on the Turkish dominions; and although, afterward, news of the 
accommodation arrived, the Russian cabinet, either having no confidence 
in the good faith of Selim, or not sorry to have a pretext for invading 
Turkey, refused to countermand their orders to General Michelson, who 
advanced accordingly into the Sultan's territory. Sebastiani, improving 
the advantage thus offered, induced the Divan to declare war against 
Russia, which was formally proclaimed on the 30th of December. But 
notwithstanding the hostile attitude thus assumed by Turkey, she was yet 
in no condition to sustain the war, and General Michelson overran Wal- 
lachia and Moldavia, and took military possession of both provinces. An 
application from the cabinet of St. Petersburg to that of London, for the 
naval cooperation of the latter in prosecuting the contest, was readily 
acceded to ; and Sir John Duckworth, having under his command seven 
ships of the line, two frigates and two bomb-vessels, received orders to 
force the passage of the Dardanelles and compel the Turks to renounce 
their alliance with France. On the 26th of January, when the fleet 
arrived off the mouth of these straits, Mr. Arbuthnot presented to the 
Sultan the ultimatum of Great Britain, requiring the dismissal of Sebas- 
tiani, the formation of a treaty with England and Russia, and the opening 
of the Dardanelles to the vessels of the latter power. This proposal wag 
rejected, and a declaration of war against Gi'eat Britain immediately 
ensued. 



212 HISTORY OF EUROPE [Chap. XXV. 

Sir John Duckworth, on receiving this intelligence, made rapid prepa- 
rations for passing the Dardanelles, and entered the straits on the 19th 
of February, with a fair wind. The Turks opened a cannonade from 
some of their batteries, but they were soon silenced by the broadsides of 
the fleet, which, steadily advancing, overtook and destroyed the ship of 
the Captain Pacha, together with five frigates, and cast anchor off the 
Isle of Princes, within three leagues of Seraglio Point. Sir John Duck- 
worth then sent a message to the authorities of Constantinople, that unless 
the demands of Great Britain were instantly granted, he should in half 
an hour open his fire on the town. 

At first, tlie Sultan thought of nothing but submission. Sebastiani, 
however, prevailed on him to pursue a different course ; and, in order to 
gain time for repairing the ample batteries of the place, and of the Dar- 
danelles, he dictated a reply, to the effect that the Sultan was anxious to 
reestablish his amicable relations with England, and had appointed Allett 
Effendi to treat on his behalf. The unsuspecting admiral, who, by reason 
of Mr. Arbuthnot's illness, undertook the negotiation, was no matclKfor 
the French general in diplomacy, and readily fell into the snare. Day 
after day passed in the exchange of notes and diplomatic communications; 
and, meanwhile, the entire defence having been intrusted to Sebastiani, 
the batteries of the capital, and along the whole straits through which 
the British fleet would have to retire, were put in order. The guns were 
mounted, ammunition supplied, men trained to the use of the cannon, and 
in short, preparations of the most formidable description were in rapid 
progress, while the English admiral remained inactive and credulous in 
the harbor of Constantinople : when at length he became sensible of his 
folly, and thought of retreating from his dangerous position, the wind had 
changed to the southwest, and rendered his escape, for the time, impos- 
sible. Fortunately, on the first of March, a breeze sprung up from the 
east, all sails were spread, and the fleet reentered the perilous straits. 
The passage was disputed with great spirit, but the inexperience of the 
Turkish gunners prevented their improving to the utmost their advan- 
tage ; and the British ships escaped the scene of danger with a loss of 
only two hundred and fifty men. 

Sir John Duckworth, as soon as he had passed the straits, took posses- 
sion of Lemnos and Tenedos, and established a strict blockade at the 
entrance to the Dardanelles from the Archipelago ; and as a similar 
measure was adopted by the Russian fleet at the mouth of the Bosphorus, 
the Turks soon began to suffer from famine. After a time, their neces- 
sities became so urgent, that they manned their ships of war and boldly 
determined to attack the Russian squadron. The result was what might 
have been anticipated. Four of their ships of the line were taken, three 
burned, and the remainder driven back. This action occurred on the 1st 
of July, 1807. 

In the moan time, an event of great importance had occurred in Eng- 
land. This was the dismissal of the Whig ministry, on the 24th of March, 
and the appointment on the 8th of April of a new cabinet, having among 
its members Mr. Canning and Lord Castlereagh. 

This change of ministry was followed by an immediate change in the 
policy of Great Britain with respect to continental affairs. The men who 
now succeeded to the charge of her foreign relations, had been educated 
in the school of Mr. Pitt, and early imbibed his feelings of hostility toward 



1807.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 213 

the French Revolution. They were strongly impressed with the disastrous 
effects of the economical system of their predecessors, which had led them 
to withhold their resources at the decisive moment, when a proper appli- 
cation of them might have brought the war to a triumphant conclusion ; 
they did their utmost to atone for past errors, by renewing the alliances 
of Great Britain with the continental powers ; and in the case of Prussia, 
they advanced liberal subsidies, together with arms and ammunition. 
But it was too late to restore the relations of cordiality that existed between 
England and Russia in the preceding year, as the Czar could not forgive 
the ungracious refusal of aid solicited by him from the cabinet of London 
before the battle of Pultusk. 



CHAPTER XXTI. 

CAMPAIGN OF FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 

The two armies under Benningsen and Napoleon, remained in a state 
of tranquillity for nearly four months after the battle of Eylau ; but during 
this time, some comparatively trivial operations had been undertaken by 
detached parties of the respective nations, and the siege of Dantzic was 
maintained with a force proportionate to its importance. This city, for- 
merly one of the most flourishing of the Hanse Towns, had fallen to the 
lot of Prussia on the last partition of Poland, in 1794 ; and though it had 
much declined in wealth and population since that disastrous period, it 
was still a place of strength and consideration. Its situation at the mouth 
of the Vistula gave it a monopoly of the commerce of Poland, which con- 
sisted in the export of immense quantities of wheat and the import of the 
productions of almost every civilized country. The fortifications of 
Dantzic were strong, but its principal defence lay in the marshy nature 
of the ground in its vicinity which was traversed only by a kw dikes, 
and in the power which the besieged had of inundating the country to 
the extent of several miles, by the sluices of the Vistula. The garrison 
was composed of twelve thousand Prussians and five thousand Russians, 
under the command of Field-marshal Kalkreuth. 

As early as the middle of February, Napoleon gave orders for the 
more vigorous prosecution of the siege, and detached a large body of his 
best troops for that purpose. The besieging force proceeded by regular 
approaches, took the several outworks of the place one after another, and 
by the 7th of May, the garrison, though well furnished with provisions, 
began to fail in ammunition. As the numbers of the French enabled 
them to resist every attempt of the Russians to throw supplies into the 
town, this deficiency soon I'endered its defence impossible for any great 
length of time ; and on the 24th of May, its commander was forced to 
capitulate. The garrison was permitted to retire with their arms and the 
honors of war, on condition of not serving against France for a year, or 
until regularly exchanged ; and Dantzic, with its nine hundred pieces of 
cannon, fell into the hands of the French troops. 

On the reopening of the campaign between the two armies, Benningsen 



214 HISTORY OF EUROPE [Chap. XXVI. 

was able to muster but a hundred and twenty thousand men, which num- 
ber included the detached corps of sixteen thousand Prussians and Rus- 
sians, under Lestocq, in front of Koningsberg, and the left wing, fifteen 
thousand strong, under Tolstoy, on the Narew ; so that the force to be 
relied on in direct opposition to Napoleon, was scarcely ninety thousand 
men. The exertions of the French Emperor had assembled- a much 
laro-er force. Exclusive of an army of observation on the Elbe, and the 
garrisons and blockading corps in his rear, no less than a hundred and 
fifty thousand infantry and thirty-five thousand cavalry were ready for 
immediate action on the Passarge and the Narew. Hence, vast as were 
the resources of Russia when she had time to collect into one focus her 
unwieldy strength, she was now overmatched on her own frontier. 

After the fall of Dantzic, Benningsen was induced by the exposed situa- 
tion of Ney's corps at Guttstadt, on the right bank of the Passarge, mid- 
way between the two armies, to hazard an attack on that insulated body. 
Early on the morning of the 5th of June, the Russian army was put in 
motion for the accomplishment of this enterprise, and two feigned attacks 
were made on the fortified bridges of Spandau and Lomitten, in order to 
distract the enemy's attention: these attacks were so spiritedly main- 
tained, that the French officers conceived the forcing of the bridge to be 
the chief object of the Russian commander. Meanwhile, the real attack 
was directed against Ney, seven miles to the right of the Passarge, and 
seemed to promise perfect success, as the French marshal was taken en- 
tirely by surprise. But the Russians advanced in detachments, and strict 
orders had been given not to begin the battle until all were on the ground; 
consequently, some delays having occurred on the march, Ney was en- 
abled to recover from his confusion, and organize a retreat before the 
Russians assailed him. The action at length commenced at two o'clock; 
Guttstadt was carried by assault, and four hundred prisoners, with several 
guns and a quantity of magazines, were taken ; but, owing to the dilatory 
movements of the Russians, Ney retired whh comparatively little loss 
to Aukendorf, where he passed the night, and the next day he made good 
his retreat to Dippen. Napoleon took measures to retaliate this attack, 
by a general advance upon the Russian position ; but Benningsen had no 
desire to meet the whole French army with his inferior numbers, and 
accordingly withdrew to the camp at Heilsberg, which he had previously 
intrenched with great care. 

Napoleon pursued the retreating columns to their intrenchments, and, 
on the 10th of June, prepared for a general attack. He prevailed in the 
first instance, and two French regiments established themselves within 
the Russian redoubts ; but they were soon charged, broken and totally 
destroyed. Following up this success, the Russians sallied forth upon 
the plain, and forced Soult's division to give ground. At the same time, 
the divisions of St. Cyr, St. Hilaire and I^egrand, which had penetrated to 
the foot of the redoubts along the line, were driven back with great loss ; 
and at this juncture, when the French were retiring at all points, night 
terminated the action. 

At eleven o'clock, in the night, a deserter from the French was brought 
to Benningsen's head-quarters and informed him that a fresh attack was 
about to be made. The Russians immediately stood to their arms, and 
were scarcely prepared for the new movement, when, by the uncertain 
starlight, dark masses of the enemy were seen to emerge from the woods 



1808.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 215 

and advance at a rapid pace in silence across the plain. The Russian 
artillery opened a deadly fire on the columns, which, staggering under 
the discharge, still pressed on without returning a shot. But when they 
arrived within range of the musketry, the storm of balls and bullets com- 
bined became so vehement, that they were forced to give way, and fled in 
great confusion and with frightful loss to their own lines. 

Napoleon was extremely disconcerted by this repulse, and vented his ill- 
humor in violent sallies of passion against his generals. The butchery 
had been useless. Twelve thousand Frenchmen had fallen around the 
several Russian redoubts, without having gained the mastery of one ; and 
the ditches were filled with their dead bodies, but none of them had been 
crossed. The loss of the Russians amounted to nearly eight thousand 
men. , 

Finding, thus, that the camp at Heilsberg could not be forced. Napo- 
leon resolved to turn it, arfd dispatched Davoust's corps on the Landsberg 
road toward Eylau and Koningsberg. This movement alarmed Ben- 
ningsen, who, though not apprehensive of any attack in front, was with 
reason fearful of being cut off from his supplies at Koningsberg ; and as 
the French testified a determination to manoeuvre on his right flank, he 
gave orders to retreat to Bartenstein, which place he reached on the fol- 
lowing day without molestation. The same movement on the part of 
the French induced Lestocq to fall back from Braunsberg ; but as both he 
and Benningsen were traversing the circumference of the arc while the 
French were marching on its chord, the latter necessarily gained upon 
the Russians, and eventually not only interposed between them and Ko- 
ningsberg, but were in a position whence, by a rapid advance on Wehlau, 
they might cut off" the retreat to the Russian frontier. Under these cir- 
cumstances, Benningsen found it indispensable to push forward by a 
forced march to Friedland, where, by great exertions, he arrived on the 
1.3th of June. 

Friedland is a considerable town on the left bank of the river Alle, 
which there flows in a northerly direction toward the Baltic. The wind- 
ings of the river encircle the town on the south and east, and an artificial 
lake covers it on the north, so that, in a military point of view, it is acces- 
sible only on the western side, where the roads to and from Eylau, Ko- 
ningsberg, Wehlau and Tilsit all concentre. 

On the night of his arrival, Benningsen learned that the corps of Lannes 
was lying at Postheneu, a village about three miles from Friedland on 
the Koningsberg road, unsupported as yet by any of the other divisions of 
the French army. He therefore resolved to attack this isolated force, and 
at four o'clock in the morning of the 14th, his vanguard was defiling over 
the bridge of Friedland. Lannes's corps consisted of fifteen thousand men, 
and as a preponderance of numbers could be brought against them by the 
Russians, the expedition promised well, provided its success was imme- 
diate : but if Lannes could hold the enemy in check until the other 
French divisions, which were rapidly advancing, reached the field, the 
Russians in turn would be outnumbered, and that, too, in a most disad- 
vantageous position, as a single bridge formed their sole line both of 
advance and retreat. Benningsen weighed well these circumstances, and 
at first passed but one division over the bridge ; but as this met with aft 
unexpected resistance, he ordered others to follow, and in the mean time 
threw three pontoon bridges across the river to provide for a disaster. 



216 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXVI, 

By degrees, as the increasing masses of the French showed that other 
corps had arrived to support Lannes, the whole Russian army passed 
over, and Benningsen, contrary to his original intention, found himself 
involved in a general action. 

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Napoleon arrived at the heights of 
Heinrichsdorf, which overlooked the whole field, and dispatched his staff 
with orders for the battle. The corps of Ney, Victor and Mortier, togethei 
with the infantry and cavalry of the Imperial Guard had already come 
up, and were soon followed by a part of Murat's dragoons, so that the 
Emperor, confident of victory, remarked, "this is the anniversary of Ma- 
rengo ; the battle could not have been fought on a more propitious day." 
The French force in the field now amounted to eighty thousand men ; 
while Benningsen, who had detached a considerable force to the rear to 
secure the bridge over the Pregel at Wehlau, should a retreat become 
necessary, could bring but forty-six thousand to resist the attack. The 
general result of the action, therefore, may be said to have been decided 
by the preliminary movements, for the defeat of Benningsen was inevita- 
ble, with such a fearful majority of numbers against him. 

Nevertheless, the battle was contested by the Russians with prodigious 
bravery. By the resistless weight of the opposing masses, they were 
indeed gradually forced back to Friedland, through its streets, and across 
the river ; but when the whole fire of the French infantry and artillery 
was concentrated on their columns, and this was followed up by a despe- 
rate charge of Murat's cuirassiers and dragoons, they retired with the 
steadiness and precision of field-day evolutions — not one square was 
broken, not one gun captured during the retreat. Indeed, the result of 
the action furnishes the best proof of the unconquerable valor of the 
Russian troops. Seventeen thousand of them remained on the field killed 
or wounded ; five hundred only were made prisoners ; no standards were 
taken ; and but seventeen pieces of cannon, lost early in the day, fell 
into the hands of the enemy. On the other hand, the French lost two 
eagles and eight thousand men. 

After the battle, the Russians retired in good order to Wehlau, which 
they reached on the 15th, without being pursued or molested by Napo- 
leon. In the mean time, Lestocq had advanced to Koningsberg, where, 
forming a junction with Kamenskoi, he was enabled to show an array of 
twenty- four thousand men ; with which force he resolved to make a stand 
against the fifty thousand who were approaching, under Soult and Da- 
voust, until the large magazines in the town were removed. His heroic 
efforts were crowned with brilliant success. For two entire days he re- 
sisted every attempt of the French host to dislodge him, conveyed the 
macrazines and military stores to a place of safety in the rear, and on the 
17th effected his retreat with little loss to Wehlau, where he joined the 
main army. Benningsen continued his retreat on the same day, reached 
Tilsit on the ISth, and during the 19th and 20th crossed the Niemen at 
that place, and burned the bridge behind him. 

The Emperor Alexander, disheartened by the defeat and loss he had 
sustained, foiled in the objects for which he had undertaken the war, and 
deserted by those for whose advantage, more than for his own, he had 
joined the alliance against France, was now desirous for peace ; and 
communicated his wishes, through Prince Bagrathion, to the French com- 
mander. These advances gave Napoleon the greatest satisfaction ; for, 



1807.] HISTORYOF EUROPE. aiit 

though as yet victorious over the Muscovite legions, he had learned to 
appreciate their prowess in the field, and knew, also, that his further pro- 
gi'ess toward the Russian dominions would, in the end, reverse the pro- 
portion of numbers now existing between his own army and that of his 
antagonist. With these dispositions on both sides, there was little diffi- 
culty in coming to an understanding. France had nothing to ask from 
Russia, but that she should promote the Continental System by closing her 
ports against England : and Russia had nothing to demand of France, 
but that she should withdraw her armies from Poland and permit Alex- 
ander to pursue his projects of conquest in Turkey. An armistice, 
therefore, was immediately concluded. The Niemen separated the two 
armies ; Napoleon established his head-quarters at Tilsit, and Alexander, 
at Piktuhpohnen, on the opposite bank of the river. 

On the 25th of June, the two Emperors held a private conference on a 
raft moored in the middle the Niemen, the respective armies being 
drawn up in triple lines on both sides of the stream. The interview 
lasted two hours, and ended in the establishment of a good understanding 
and perfectly friendly relations between the two sovereigns. On the fol- 
lowing day, they met again at Tilsit, where they were joined by the King 
of Prussia ; and, after a fortnight of conference, two treaties were defi- 
nitively concluded ; one, between France and Russia, and the other 
between France and Prussia. 

By the former. Napoleon agreed to restore to the King of Prussia, Sile- 
sia and nearly all his German dominions on the right bank of the Elbe, 
with the fortresses on the Oder and in Pomerania. The provinces which, 
prior to 1772, formed part of the kingdorfl of Poland, and had since then 
been annexed to Prussia, were erected into a separate principality, to be 
called the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and bestowed on the King of Sax- 
ony. Dantzic, with a limited portion of territory in its neighborhood, 
was declared a free and independent city, under the protection of the 
Kings of Prussia and Saxony ; which was, in effect, declaring it a fron- 
tier town of France. A right to a free military road across the Prussian 
states, was granted to the King of Saxony, to connect his German with 
his Polish dominions. The navigation of the Vistula was declared free 
to Prussia, Saxony and Dantzic ; the Dukes of Oldenberg and Mecklen- 
berg were reinstated in their dominions, on condition, however, that their 
harbors should be occupied by French troops ; the Kings of Naples and 
Holland, with the Confederation of the Rhine, were recognized by the 
Emperor of Russia ; a new kingdom, styled that of Westphalia, was 
erected i» favor of Jerome Bonaparte, composed of the Prussian provinces 
on the lett bank of the Elbe ; hostilities were to cease between Russia 
and Turkey; Wallachia and Moldavia were to be evacuated by the 
Russians, but not occupied by the Turks until the conclusion of a gen- 
eral peace ; and the Emperors of Russia and France mutually guaran- 
tied their respective dominions, and agreed to establish commercial 
relations with each other on the most favorable footing. 

By the second treaty, the King of Prussia recognized the Confederation 
of the Rhine, and the Kings of Naples, Holland and Westphalia. He 
ceded to the kings or princes who should be designated by Napoleon, all 
the dominions which, at the commencement of the war, he possessed be- 
tween the Rhine and the Elbe, and engaged to ofTer no opposition to any 
arrangement in regard to them, which his Imperial majesty might choose 



218 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXVII. 

to adopt. He also ceded to the King of Saxony the circle of Gotha, in 
Lower Lusatia ; he renounced all right to his acquisitions in Poland sub- 
sequent to January 1st, 1772, and to the city and territory of Dantzic ; 
consented to close his harbors to the ships and commerce of Great Brit- 
ain ; and entered into a contract for the restoration of the strong-holds of 
Prussia at certain fixed periods, and the payment of the sums necessary 
for their civil and military evacuation. These concessions, together with 
the enormous contributions exacted by Napoleon, entirely paralyzed the 
strength of Prussia, and rendered her for a long time inc^able of extri- 
cating herself from that iron net in which she was enveloped by the 
French troops. 

But the important changes announced in these two treaties, were not 
the only consequences of the interviews at Tilsit. By a secret conven- 
tion concluded at the same time between the two Emperors, Turkey was 
abandoned almost without reserve to the RiMpian Autocrat ; and, in re- 
turn, Alexander agreed that if England should decline to make peace 
with France on certain terms designated by Napoleon, '• France and 
Russia would jointly summon the three courts of Copenhagen, Stockholm 
and Lisbon, to close their harbors against English vessels, recall their 
ambassadors from London, and declare war against Great Britain." By 
a further agreement, the dominions of the pope, as well as Malta and 
Egypt, were ceded to France ; the sovereigns of the houses of Bourbon 
and Braganza in the Spanish Peninsula, were to be replaced by princes 
of the family of Napoleon ; and when the final partition of the Turkish 
Empire should take place, Wallachia, Moldavia, Servia and Bulgaria 
were to be allotted to Russia; asid Greece, Macedonia, Dalmatia and the 
seaports of the Adriatic, to France. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

FROM THE PEACE OF TILSIT, TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES IN 
THE SPANISH PENINSULA. 

When the battle of Trafalgar destroyed Napoleon's prospect of inva- 
ding England, and extinguished his hope of soon bringing the maritime 
war to a successful issue, he did not abandon the contest in desp^r. He 
readily saw that his preparations in the Channel must go fornothing, 
that the flotilla at Boulogne would fall to pieces before a fleet capable of 
protecting its passage could be assembled, and that every successive 
year would enable England more exclusively to monopolize the com. 
merce of the world, and drive his flag more completely from the ocean. 
Yet, fertile in resource, indomitable in resolution, implacable in hatred, 
he resolved to change the method, not the object of his hostility ; and 
indulged the belief that he could succeed, through the extent and terror 
of his continental victories, in achieving England's destruction by a pro- 
cess more slow, but perhaps more certain. 

The first part of his plan was to combine the European states in one 
great alliance against England, and compel them to exclude the British flag 



1807.1 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 219 

and British merchandise from their harbors. The second part was, to 
obtain possession by fraud, or force, or negotiation, of all the fleets of 
Europe, and gradually bring them to a central point near the English 
coast, whence he could eventually make his long-contemplated descent 
upon that country. By the Continental System he hoped to weaken the 
resources of England, to decrease her revenue, and spread commercial 
distress through her borders, until the unanimity of her inhabitants should 
be destroyed, and thus prepare the way for the grand assault, which was 
his ultimate reliance. With an eye to the same end, he constantly ex- 
erted himself to increase his own naval force. Amid all the expenditure 
of his militaiy campaigns, he proposed to construct, and to a certain ex- 
tent actually did construct, from ten to twenty ships of the line every 
year, while vast sums were annually expended on the naval harbors of 
Antwerp, Flushing, Cherbourg and Brest. 

It was in pursuance of these projects that, on the 21st of November. 
1806, he issued a proclamation from Berlin — since known as the Berlin 
Decree — declaring that " The British islands are in a state of blockade. 
Every species of commerce and communication with them is prohibited ; 
all packages or letters addressed in English, or in English characters, 
shall be seized at the Post Office ; all British subjects, of whatever rank 
or condition, who shall be found in the countries occupied by our troops, 
or those of our allies, shall be made prisoners of war; every warehouse, 
merchandise, or property of any sort, belonging to a subject of Great 
Britain, or coming from its manufactories or colonies, is. declared lawful 
prize. Half the value of confiscated property shall be applied to indem- 
nifying merchants whose vessels have been seized by the English crui- 
sers. No vessels coming directly from England, or any of her colonies, 
shall be received into any of our harbors ; and every vessel which, by 
means of a false declaration shall have effected such entry, shall be con- 
fiscated. The prize-court of Paris is intrusted with the determination of 
all questions arising out of this decree in France and the countries occu- 
pied by our armies ; that of Milan, with the decision of similar questions 
in the kingdom of Italy. This decree shall be communicated to the Kings 
of Spain, Naples, Holland and Etruria, and to our allies whose subjects, 
like ours, have been victims of the injustice and barbarity of British 
legislation." 

Such was the famous Berlin Decree, and orders were dispatched for its 
immediate and vigorous execution. Its unjust character and ruinous ten- 
dency was so strongly felt in Holland, thai Louis Bonaparte, the king, at 
first positively refused to submit to its iRforcement, and for some time 
could be prevailed on to promulgate it only in foreign countries occupied 
by the Dutch troops. In the north of Germany it was vigorously carried 
into effect, and was made the pretext for a thousand iniquitous extortions 
and abuses, which greatly augmented its oppression. An army of locusts, 
in the form of inspectors, custom-house officers and other functionaries, 
fell on the countries occupied by the French troops, and made the search 
for English goods a plea for innumerable frauds. 

The English government replied to the Berlin Decree, by an Order in 
Council, on the 7th of January, 1807, declaring that, " No vessel shall be 
permitted to trade from one port to another, if both belong to France and 
her allies, and shall be so far under their control, as that British vessels are 
excluded therefrom ; and the captains of all British vessels are hereby 



220 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXVII, 

required to warn every neutral vessel coming from any such port, destined 
to such other poi't, to discontinue her voyage ; and any vessel, after being 
so warned, or after having had a reasonable time allowed it for obtaining 
information of the present Order in Council, which shall, notwithstanding, 
persist in such voyage to such other port, shall be declared good prize." 
This Order was soon after modified in favor of vessels containing grain or 
provisions for Great Britain, and of all vessels whatever, belonging to the 
Hanse Towns, if employed in any trade to or from the British dominions. 

After the treaty of Tilsit had subjected the Continent to the control of 
Napoleon, it appeared that some more vigorous and extensive retaliation 
was indispensable on the part of Great Britain. A few months' experi- 
ence showed that the Berlin Decree, by prohibiting the importation of every 
kind of British produce, necessarily left the Continental market open to 
the manufacturing industry and colonial produce of other states. The 
obvious and direct reply would have been to prohibit the importation into 
the British dominions of the produce of France and its dependencies; but 
a little reflection showed that this would accomplish only a partial retri- 
butive effect, by reason of the comparatively great extent of British com- 
merce and manufactures. Therefore, on the 11th of November, 1807, a 
new Order in Council was issued declaring France and all the Continent- 
al powers allied with her, in a state of blockade, and that all vessels were 
good prize which should be bound for any of their harbors, excepting 
such as had previously touched at, or cleared from, a British port. 

Napoleon replied to this by a new decree issued from Milan, on the 
17th of December, 1807, declaring, that " every vessel, of whatever na- 
tion, which shall have submitted to be searched by British cruisers, or 
paid any impost levied by the British government, shall be considered as 
having lost the privileges of a neutral flag, and declared good prize. 
Every vessel, of whatever nation, and with whatever cargo, coming from 
any British harbor, or from any of the British colonies, or from any 
country occupied by British troops, or bound for Great Britain, or for 
British colonies, or for any country occupied by the British troops, is also 
declared good prize." 

It may safely be affirmed that the rage of belligerent powers and 
the mutual violation of the law of nations, could not go beyond these 
furious manifestoes. But, such was the exasperation now produced on 
both sides, by the long continuance and desperate character of the contest, 
the feelings of generosity and the dictates of prudence were alike forgotten. 
Nevertheless, the very extravagance of these notable decrees, by render- 
ing their strict execution imp||psible, led from the first to a system of 
unlimited evasion, of which Napoleon himself set the example. He soon 
discovered that a lucrative source of revenue might be opened by granting, 
at exorbitant prices, licenses to import British produce and manufactures: 
a condition was attached to the license, that an equal amount of French or 
Continental produce should be exported ; but this was readily evaded by 
making up cargoes of old and almost worthless merchandise, and ship- 
ping it under a fictitious certificate of value. Thus arose a system, the 
most extraordinary and inconsistent that ever was known upon the earth. 
While the two governments were carrying on their commercial warfare 
with daily increasing virulence ; while Napoleon denounced the penalty 
of death against every public functionary who should connive at the intro- 
duction of British merchandise, and consigned to the flames, whatever of 



1807.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 221 

such property could by fiscal cupidity be discovered in the extensive 
dominions subject to his control ; while, too, the English court of admi- 
ralty daily condemned merchant vessels which had contravened the Orders 
in Council, and issued the strictest injunctions to their cruisers to carry 
them into full execution — both governments openly violated the very de- 
crees to which they required such implicit obedience. British licenses 
were sold at the public offices in London, and became the vehicles of an 
immense trade with the Continent ; and Napoleon finally carried this 
illicit traffic to such a height as to decree, that " no vessel shall sail from 
any of our ports for any foreign port, unless provided with a license 
signed by our own hand." Hence, the Continental System and the re- 
taliatory measures of Great Britain were virtually abandoned by the two 
governments, though rigorously exacted as the first of public duties from 
their subjects. As, therefore, the commerce in British merchandise 
did not, in fact, diminish on the Continent, the suffering experienced in 
England during this period, was not at all owing to the Berlin Decree, 
but to the loss of the North American market, whicli the Orders in Council 
ultimately closed against British productions. Thus Napoleon, in this 
measure, on which he staked his influence, his fame, his throne, was, after 
all, governed by the same regard to inferior interests which prompted the 
Dutch, in former times, to sfell ammunition and provisions at exorbitant 
prices to the inhabitants of a town besieged by their armies — resolved, in 
any case, to make a gain by the warfare, and if they could not subdue the 
enemy, at least to exact a large pecuniary profit from his necessities. 

The return of Napoleon to Paris, after the termination of the Polish 
campaign, was hailed by the universal rejoicing of the inhabitants: and, 
in truth, they had never before such cause for exultation. The great 
contest seemed to be over : their standards had been advanced in triumph 
to the Niemen, the strength of Prussia was, to all appearance, irrevocably 
broken, Austria was thoroughly overawed, and Russia, from being an 
inveterate and fearful antagonist, had become the sworn friend of the 
French Empire. Such a series of triumphs as Napoleon had achieved, 
might have turned the heads of a nation less passionately devoted than 
the French to military glory, but the oratorical welcomes of the public 
bodies in Paris transgressed every allowable limit. They manifested, not 
the enthusiasm of freemen, but the adulation of slaves. " We cannot 
adequately praise your majesty," said Lacepede, president of the Senate ; 
" your glory is too dazzling ; those only who are placed at the distance of 
posterity can appreciate its immense elevation." " The only eloge worthy 
of the Emperor," said the president of the Court of Cassation, "is the 
simple narrative of his reign ; the most unadorned recital of what he has 
wished, thought and executed ; of their effects, past, present and to come." 
" The conception," said Count de Tabre, a senator, " which the mother 
of Napoleon received in her bosom, could have flowed only from divine in- 
spiration." 

Napoleon took this favorable opportunity to eradicate the last remnant 
of popular freedom from the Constitution, by suppressing the Tribunate : 
and thenceforward, the discussion on laws proposed by the government, 
was intrusted to three commissioners, chosen from the legislative body 
by the Emperor. As this blow at the last popular point in the Constitu- 
tion was received with shouts of approval from Calais to the Pyrenees, 
Napoleon next issued a decree, prohibiting booksellers from publishing 



222 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXVII. 

any work, until it had received the sanction of the censors of the press, 
and subjecting the periodicals and daily journals to the same restriction. 
This censorship was carried to such an extent,, that when the allies en- 
tered France in 1814, they found a large portion of the inhabitants igno- 
rant of the fact, that the battle of Trafalgar had ever been fought. The 
years of the Empire are an absolute blank in French literary annals, so 
far as all matters relating to government, political thought, or moral sen- 
timent are concerned. Whoever attentively considers the situation of 
France at this period, will perceive the unsoundness of the common no- 
tion, that the press is, under all circumstances, the bulwark of liberty, 
and that despotism is impossible where it is in operation. They will 
rather concur in the opinion of Madame de Stael, that the effect of this 
mighty agent is entirely dependent on the power which gains possession 
of its resources; that only in a peculiar state of the public mind, and 
when a certain balance exists between political parties, can it be used 
beneficially on the side of freedom ; and that at other periods, or under 
the influence of more corrupt feelings, it may become the instrument of 
the most immovable popular or imperial despotism that ever was riveted 
upon mankind. 

Individual authors of that period were persecuted with unparalleled 
severity. Madame de Stacl, long the object of Napoleon's hostility, from 
the vigor of her understanding, and the fearlessness of her conduct, was 
at first banished forty leagues from Paris ; then confined to her chateau 
on the Lake of Geneva, where she dwelt many years, and sought in 
vain, in the discharge of every filial duty to her venerable father, to con- 
sole herself for the loss of the intellectual society of Paris. At length, 
the espionnage to which she was subjected, forced her to flee in disguise 
to Vienna ; and, hunted thence by the French emissaries, she continued 
her flight through Poland into Muscovy, where she found that freedom 
which old Europe could no longer afford. Her immortal work on Ger- 
many was seized by the orders of the police and burned, and France 
owes the preservation of one of the brightest jewels in her literary coro- 
net, to the fortuitous concealment of one copy from the myrmidons of 
Savary. The world has no cause to regret the severity of Napoleon to 
this illustrious exile, whatever his biographer may have ; for it gave 
birth to the Dix Annees d'Exil, the three volumes on Germany, and the 
profound views on the British Constitution with which she has enriched 
her work on the Revolution in France. 

Napoleon's next attack was directed against the judicial establishment, 
by reducing the term of service of the judges; who, thenceforward, in- 
stead of holding office for life, were appointed for five years, and even 
this period was liable to be summarily abridged at the Emperor's pleas- 
ure. He also labored with great earnestness to reconstruct a nobility 
for the Empire, well knowing that a permanent aristocracy would prove 
the best possible safeguard for the continuance of his dynasty : this pro- 
ject, however, was but partially successful, as the legitimate materials 
for constructing such a political establishment were annihilated by the 
Reign of Terror. 

But, though the government of Napoleon was thus in all respects de- 
spotic, it possessed the great advantage to the people of being also regu- 
lar, conservative and systematic. The taxes were heavy, but the public 
expenditure was immense, and enabled the inhabitants to pay their 



1807.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 223 

assessments with facility. No forced loans or arbitrary confiscations, as 
in the time of the Republic, swept off at a blow the accumulations of 
years ; no uncertainty as to enjoying the fruits of industry, paralyzed 
the hand of the laborer. The stoppage of all external commerce, com- 
bined with the constantly increasing disbursements of the government, 
produced an unprecedented degree of vigor in domestic manufactures, 
and internal communication ; roads and canals spread out in every 
direction, and were covered with wagons or boats laden with the richest 
merchandise, while the agriculturalist found an ample market for his pro- 
duce in the vast consumption of the armies. Beet-root was extensively 
cultivated as a substitute for sugar-cane ; and although the sugar ob- 
tained from that vegetable was inferior in richness to the West India 
commodity, it was superior in clearness and delicacy, and, as a native 
production, was justly admired. Lyons, Rouen and the Flemish towns, 
again resounded with tlie activity of the artisan, their ruined looms were 
restored, their empty warehouses replenished, and the internal consump- 
tion of the Empire, deprived of foreign competition, rapidly raised from 
the dust that which the Revolution seemed to have irrevocably destroyed. 
Among the causes that led to the national wealth and prosperity of 
France, at this period, should also be mentioned the enormous sums 
which were exacted from half of Europe, in the shape of subsidies and 
contributions, and expended, directly or indirectly, for the benefit of the 
French people. In truth, all the great public works thenceforward un- 
dertaken by the Emperor, and which have added so much to the lustre 
of his name, were constructed by the funds wrung from the suffering 
inhabitants of his conquered territories. 

Amid this general prosperity, however, individual freedom expired. 
A Penal Code was enacted, which enumerated no less than two hundred 
and eighty state crimes, including such minute and trivial actions, and 
requiring for conviction evidence so slender, that every man's life and 
liberty were at the Emperor's disposal. And the impossibility of flight 
from this persecution aggi'avated its horrors. In former days, by es- 
caping across the frontier, a person suspected or accused might gain an 
asylum in an adjoining state ; but now, the influence of the Imperial 
authority pursued the fugitive to the remotest corner of Europe, and he 
could find no resting-place on the Continent till he had passed the bound- 
aries of civilization, and sojourned among the semi- barbarous tribes on the 
confines of Asia. In the Ukraine, or in the provinces of Asiatic Turkey, 
he might be safe ; but, excepting the unsubdued territories of the British 
Empire, no other refuge could be found from the vengeance of Napoleon. 
The levying of the conscription was another frightful feature in this 
age of despotism. The law was applied to every male individual in the 
realm, of the prescribed age, those alone excepted who were ill of invet- 
erate asthma, spitting of blood, or^ncipient consumption. No Frenchman 
liable, or who had once been liable to the conscription, could hold any 
public office, enjoy any public salary, exercise any public right, receive 
any legacy, or inherit any property, unless he produced a certificate that 
he had obeyed the law and was legally exempt, or was in actual service, 
or had been regularly discharged, or had not been required to perform 
the military duties. Those who failed to join the army within the time 
prescribed in their summons, were deprived of their civil rights, and 
denounced to all the gendarmerie in the Empire as deserters. Eleven 



224 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXVII. 

depots were established for the punishment of the refractory, where they 
wore the uniform and received the fare of convicts, and were compelled 
to labor on the fortifications or public works without pay. And when 
the terrors of this treatment were found insufficient to bring the conscripts 
into the ranks, it was ordered that the delinquents should be fined fifteen 
hundred francs and sentenced to three years' hard labor in the provinces, 
with their heads shaved and their beards uncut. If they afterward de- 
serted from the army, they were sentenced to ten years' hard labor in a 
frontier location, to be fed on bread and water, and M'ear a ball of eight 
pounds' weight attached to the leg by a chain. Such were the punish- 
ments which awaited the youth of France, if they attempted to evade a 
conscription that was sending them to the grave at the rate of two hun- 
dred and twenty thousand a year. 

The political changes in Central Europe, consequent on the treaty of 
Tilsit, were rapidly developed. On his route to Paris, Napoleon met a 
deputation of the principal nobles of Prussian Poland at Dresden, where 
Talleyrand produced a Constitution for the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, 
declaring the ducal crown to be hereditary in the Saxon family. The 
Grand-Duke was invested with the sole executive power, and he alone had 
the privilege of proposing laws to the Diet, which held the prei'ogative of 
passing or rejecting them. The Diet was composed of eighteen senators 
appointed by him, embracing six bishops and twelve lay nobles, and a 
Chamber of Deputies containing a hundred members, sixty of whom were 
elected by the nobility and forty by the boroughs. The powers of the 
Chamber were limited to mere decisions on the arguments laid before 
them by the orators of the Diet, and this mockery of a Parliament was 
to assemble only for fifteen days in every two years. The ardent ple- 
beian noblesse, whose democratic passions had so long brought desolation 
on their country, found little in this charter to gratify their political 
vieyvs ; but a substantial improvement was made in the condition of the 
peasantry, by a clause declaring all the serfs to be free. 

The Constitution of Westphalia was, in like manner, founded on the 
model of that of France. It provided for a King, Council of State, Senate, 
silent aristocratic Legislature and public orators, all cast in the Parisian 
mould. The throne was declared hereditary in the family of Jerome 
Bonaparte ; one half of the allodial territories of the former sovereigns, 
of which the new kingdom was composed, were placed at the disposal of 
Napoleon as a fund from which to form estates for his military followers; 
provision was made for the payment of the contributions levied by France 
before any part of the revenue could reach the new king ; the kingdom 
was joined to the Confederation of the Rhine, and the standing army re- 
quired to be kept on foot for the service of France, when needed, was 
fixed at twenty-five thousand men. In default of the king's heirs-male, 
the throne was to succeed to Napoleon aftd his heirs by birth or adoption. 
The same plan of government was adopted in Oldenberg, Mecklen- 
berg, Dantzic, Hamburg, Bremen, Lubec and all the Hanse Towns ; 
in every instance, the harbors were closed, commerce was annihilated, 
and the military exactions of France reduced the whole to indigence and 
almost to bankruptcy. 

While the diplomatists of Europe were speculating on the extinction of 
Prussia as an independent power, and the only question appeared to be, 
what fortunate neighbor would acquire her territories, a new and im- 



1807.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 225 

proved system was adopted in the several branches of her government, 
and the foundation laid in present suffering for future triumph. The 
members of the cabinet whose temporizing and unworthy policy had so 
largely contributed to the downfall of the kingdom, were removed from 
office; and the commanders who had so disgracefully surrendered the 
national fortresses after the battle of Jena, were in a body dismissed from 
the army. The king desired to call the intrepid and sagacious Harden- 
berg to his councils ; but the influence of Napoleon, which had long be- 
fore caused his removal from the administration, now prevented his 
return, and Baron Stein was appointed to the chief direction of the govern- 
ment. The talents and zeal of this eminent man soon produced extensive 
and salutary changes in every department, and the condition of the whole 
people was greatly improved by his wise regulations. Indeed, the ben- 
efits of his policy were so conspicuous and universal, that he, too, fell 
under the proscription of Napoleon; and the king was reluctantly com- 
pelled to send him into honorable exile in Russia. Nevertheless, from 
his retreat in Courland he really, though privately, continued to direct 
the Prussian councils; and by the appointment of Scharnhorst, as min- 
ister at War, a new impetus was given to the organization and increase 
of the army, which proved of immense importance in the subsequent 
struggle for European freedom. 

This officer, who served under Lestocq in the late campaign, and aided 
materially in the result of the battle of Eylau, boldly applied to the 
military department the admirable principles by which Stein had secured 
the atfections of the burgher classes. He threw open to the citizens gen- 
erally the higher grades of the army, from which they had hitherto been 
excluded, abolished corporal punishments, so degrading to the spirit of 
the soldier, «nd silently augmented the strength of the army by evading 
a clause in the treaty with Napoleon, which provided, that Prussia should 
not keep on foot more than forty-two thousand men; a compliance with 
which stipulation would at once have reduced her to the rank of a fourth- 
rate power, and disabled her from assuming an attitude of resistance to 
the encroachments of France. To elude the operation of this clause, 
and at the same time avoid any direct or obvious infringement of the 
treaty, he was careful to have no more than the prescribed number at 
any one time in arms; but the moment the young soldiers were suffi- 
ciently drilled, they were sent home, and their places supplied by others; 
who, again, after the requisite instruction, successively gave way to ad- 
ditional recruits. In this manner, the number of efficient troops gradu- 
ally rose to two hundred thousand men. 

Meantime, the inhabitants of Prussia, oppressed by foi-eign tyranny, 
surrounded by rapacious enemies or impotent friends, and deprived of 
their commerce, and of a market for the fruits of their industry, had no 
resource but in secret voluntary associations. The universality of suffer- 
ing produced a corresponding unanimity of opinion, the divisions existing 
before the war disappeared under its calamities, and the jealousies of rank 
or class yielded to the pressure of the common distress: hence arose the 
Tugendbund, a secret society, that embraced nearly the whole male 
population of the north of Germany, A central body of directors at Ber- 
lin guided its movements — provincial committees carried its orders into 
effect, and an unseen authority was obeyed from one end of the subju- 
gated provinces to the other. 
H 



220 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXVII. 

Austria had been bowed to the earth by the disasters of Austerlitz, but 
she still possessed the physical and material resources of power ; and was 
now silently, and without interruption, repairing her losses, and taking 
measures to resume her place in the rank of independent nations. * Du- 
ring the interval of hostilities, the Aulic Council were indefatigable in 
their efforts to restore the equipment and revive the spirit of the army. 
The artillery taken from the arsenal of Vienna, had been for the most 
part regained by purchase from the French government ; great exertions 
were made to supply the cavalry regiments with horses ; and the infantry 
was powerfully recruited by the return of prisoners from France, as well 
as by new enrolments on an extensive scale. 

Hitherto, the King of Sweden had bid defiance to Napoleon's threats : 
the passage around the Gulf of Bothnia was so nearly impracticable to an 
invading army, that he was comparatively secure from attack ; and, with 
the assistance of England, he did not despair of making head against his 
enemies, even should Russia be added to their formidable league. But 
after the pacification of Tilsit, he learned that his transmarine dominions 
were held by a precarious tenure. On the 13th of July, Marshal Brune 
laid siege to the fortress of Stralsund, and although the garrison made a 
determined resistance, they were forced to surrender on the 20th of 
August, with four hundred pieces of cannon and an immense quantity of 
military stores. 

Notwithstanding the precautions taken by the two Emperors, in their 
negotiations at Tilsit, to envelope their designs in profound secrecy, the 
British government possessed a golden key, which laid open their most 
confidential proceedings. The cabinet of London was aware of the in- 
tention of the Imperial despots to seize the fleets of Denmark and Portugal, 
almost as soon as the purpose was conceived ; and the f(#ce at Napo- 
leon's disposal left no room for doubt that the resolution would be imme- 
diately carried into effect. Indeed, the ink of the treaty was hardly dry, 
when the French troops, under Bernadotte and Davoust, began to defile 
in such numbers toward Holstein, as to threaten Denmark with a speedy 
loss of her continental possessions if she resisted the Emperor's demands : 
besides, it was manifest from the course of her policy, that she would 
prefer the Continental alliance, not only to a treaty with England, but also 
to a doubtful neutrality. 

Under these circumstances the British government had a serious duty 
to perform. They were menaced with an attack from the combined 
navies of Europe, amounting to one hundred and eighty sail of the line ; 
of which immense force, the fleet in the Baltic was evidently destined to 
form the right wing. They therefore resolved to deprive the allied powers 
of this important accession to their strength, and apply it to their own use. 
A large naval and military force was accordingly assembled to carry out 
this intention ; the latter, consisting of twenty thousand land-troops, and 
the former, of twenty-seven ships of the line and a large number of in- 
ferior vessels : all of which arrived safely off the harbor of Copen- 
hagen, early in August. An envoy was immediately sent on shore, to 
demand that the Danish fleet should be surrendered to the British govern- 
ment in pledge, and under an agreement for full restitution, till a general 
peace should be concluded. This demand was resisted by the prince 
royal, and both parties prepared to decide the question by the sword. The 
land troops commenced their disembarkation on the 19th of August, and 



1807.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 227 

in three days, Copenhagen was completely invested. On the 1st of 
September, everything being in readiness for the bombardment, the town 
was summoned, and an accommodation offered, on condition of the sur- 
render of the Danish fleet. As the prince still rejected the proposal, the 
bombardment commenced, and continued, with brief interruptions, for 
three days and nights, during which time an eighth part of the city was 
laid in ashes. General Peymann, finding that the whole town must 
inevitably be destroyed if he persisted in the defence, at length consented 
to capitulate ; and unconditionally delivered into the hands of the British, 
the whole fleet, together with the artillery and naval stores of the capital. 
In the beginning of October, the British squadron returned to England, 
with its prize of eighteen ships of the line, fifteen frigates, six brigs, and 
twenty-five gun-boats, all in excellent condition. 

In the mean time, the negotiations for peace with England, contem- 
plated by the treaty of Tilsit, were set on foot, and the cabinet of St. Pe- 
tersburg tendered their good offices to the English government for the 
conclusion of a general peace. Mr. Canning replied, that Great Britain 
was perfectly willing to treat on equitable terms, and requested a frank 
declaration of the secret articles of the treaty with France, as the best 
pledge of the friendly and pacific intentions of the Emperor Alexander. 
This demand was evaded, and while the negotiations were in progress, 
intelligence arrived of the capture of the Danish fleet. Even then, the 
Russian Emperor was disposed to treat ; but a peremptory note from Na- 
poleon, insisting on the immediate and full execution of the treaty, com- 
pelled him to dismiss the English minister from St. Petersbui'g, and pro- 
claim anew the principles of the Confederacy. This measure was 
followed on the part of Russia, by a declaration of war against Sweden, 
and the occupation, by the Muscovite troops, of a considerable portion of 
the Swedish territory : while Denmark resented the capture of her ships 
by entering into a close alliance with France. About the same time, Tur- 
key, finding herself betrayed and abandoned by France, notwithstanding 
the stipulations in the treaty of Tilsit, broke off her friendly connexions 
v>fith the French Emperor, and prepared to renew the war with Russia. 

In the month of November, Napoleon made a journey to Italy, where 
important political changes were in progress. Destined, like all the sub- 
ordinate thrones which surrounded the French Empire, to share in the 
rapid mutations which that government underwent, the kingdom of Italy 
was required to alter its Constitution. Napoleon ordered the Legislative 
body to be superseded by a Senate appointed and paid by the government. 
Yet, in despite of this arbiJ;rary act, he was received with unbounded 
adulation in the Italian towns. Their deputies, who waited on him at 
Milan, vied with each other in extravagant flattery: he was the Re- 
deemer of France, but the Creator of Italy — they had supplicated Heaven 
for his victories and his safety — they offered him the tribute of their 
fidelity and love forever. Napoleon received their advances graciously, 
reciprocated them by projecting costly public works, and answered them 
by heavy pecuniary exactions, and admonitions to the inhabitants to train 
up their youth to the profession of arms. 

These proceedings were followed by further encroachments on the 

dominions of Western Europe. The town and territory of Flushing, and 

the towns of Kehl, Cassel, and Wessel, on the right bank of the Rhine, 

were ceded to France. The Emperor also took possession of Tuscany 

H2 



228 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXVni. 

and Rome, and disbanded the papal troops in the latter city. He then 
annexed Ancona, Urbeno, Macerata and Camerino, to the kingdom of 
Italy. The importance of these acquisitions, however, consisted mainly 
in the principles on which they were made ; for France now, without dis- 
guise, assumed the right of annexing neutral and independent states to 
her dominions by no other authority than the decree of her own Legis- 
lature. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

PRELIMINARY MOVEMENTS OF THE PENINSULAR WAR. 

When Napoleon returned from Italy to Paris, he fixed his attention 
on the Spanish Peninsula, and considered the means of bringing the re- 
sources of both its monarchies under the immediate control of France. 

The indignation of the Spanish government had already been roused 
to the highest pitch, at hearing of Napoleon's offer to partition their 
dominions ; and they saw, at the same time, that fidelity in alliance and 
long-continued national service, afforded them no guaranty for the con- 
tinued support of the French monarch : but that, when it suited his pur- 
pose, he did not scruple to purchase a temporary respite from the hostility 
of an enemy by the permanent spoliation of a friend. While this and 
various minor causes of offence were fast changing the course of Spanish 
policy, the Russian ambassador at Madrid, entered into a private treaty 
with Spain on the 28th of August, 1806, in which compact the court of 
Lisbon was also included, wherein it was agreed, that as soon as the 
French armies were far advanced on their road to Prussia, Spain should 
commence hostilities on the Pyrenees, and invite England to cooperate 
in the defence of the Peninsula. 

This secret negotiation Avas made known to Napoleon, by the activity 
of his ambassador at Madrid ; but he dissembled his resentment, and re- 
solved to strike a decisive blow in the north of Germany, before he car- 
ried out his ulterior designs on Spain and Portugal. The imprudent 
zeal of the Prince of Peace, gave publicity to the treaty before the proper 
season arrived ; for, in a proclamation issued at Madrid on the 5th of 
October, 1806, he invited " all Spaniards to unite themselves under the 
national standards ; the rich to make sacrifices for the charges of a war 
which will soon be called for by the common good ; the magistrates to 
do all in their power to rouse the public enthusiasm, in order to enable 
the nation to enter with glory into the lists which were preparing." This 
proclamation reached Napoleon on the field of Jena, the evening after 
the battle. He, however, contented himself for the moment, with in- 
structing his ambassador to demand an explanation of this extraordinary 
manifesto, and afterward professed to be satisfied by the assurance that 
the measure was intended to counteract an anticipated descent of the 
Moors. The court of Lisbon, justly alarmed at this premature disclosure 
of their secret designs, speedily disavowed all participation in the pro- 
ject ; and, to propitiate the Emperor, required the Earl St. Vincent to 
witlidraw the British squadron from the Tagus. 



1807.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 229 

These events, thus far trivial in themselves, made a great impression 
on Napoleon. He clearly saw the risk to which he would be exposed, 
if, while actively engaged in a German or Russian war, he were to be 
suddenly assailed by the forces of the Peninsula in his rear, where the 
French frontier was in a great measure defenceless, and whence the 
armies of England might find an easy entrance into the heart of his 
dominions. He felt, with Louis XIV., that it was necessary there should 
be no longer any Pyrenees ; and as the Revolution had changed the 
reigning family on the throne of France, he deemed it indispensable that 
a similar change should be effected in the Peninsular monarchies. He 
anticipated little opposition from the people either of Spain or Portugal; 
considering them, like the Italians, indifferent to political change, pro- 
vided no diminution was made in their private enjoyments. 

The peace of Tilsit gave Napoleon an opportunity to carry out these 
intentions ; and his first measures were to summon the court of Lisbon 
to shut their ports against England, confiscate all English property within 
their dominions, and declare war against Great Britain. This was done 
on the 12th of August. At the same time, Junot repaired to Bayonne 
with an army of twenty-eight thousand men ; and Napoleon, under pre- 
tence of anticipating a refusal from the court of Lisbon, seized the Portu- 
guese ships in the French harbors. The government of Portugal was, 
however, wholly unable to resist Napoleon's demand ; they therefore 
closed their ports and declared war against England : but they refused 
to confiscate at once the property of the English merchants, and warned 
them to send off their effects and embark for their own country as speed- 
ily as possible. This modified compliance with his requisitions was far 
from satisfying Napoleon, and he ordered Junot to commence his march 
into the Portuguese territory. Accordingly, on the 19th of October, that 
marshal crossed the Bidassoa with his leading divisions ; when the court 
of Lisbon declared that if the French troops entered Portugal, they would 
retire with their fleet to the Brazils. The threats and concessions of the 
court were, however, unavailing; for Napoleon had already resolved on 
the destruction of the House of Braganza, as well as the dethronement 
of the Spanish House of Bourbon ; and events soon followed, which 
lighted up the flames of the Peninsular War. 

In conformity to his orders, Junot pressed on toward Lisbon, and in 
such haste, that the mere rapidity of his movements almost disorganized 
his army ; and his career through that devoted country was marked by 
pillage and rapine at every step. The elements of resistance were not 
wanting in the Portuguese capital. It contained three hundred thousand 
inhabitants, numerous well-constructed forts, and a garrison of fourteen 
thousand men. An English squadron lay in the Tagus — for the British 
government, appreciating the circumstances under which Portugal had 
been forced to declare war against them, still continued their friendly 
offices, notwithstanding such declaration — and Sir Sidney Smith, who had 
command of the British ships, held himself in readiness to unite with the 
garrison for the defence of the capital. But a little reflection showed 
the impolicy of contending with the French troops ; for, although a tem- 
porary success over Junot's disordered corps was of easy attainment, his 
defeat would have led to the invasion of an overwhelming force which 
could not be resisted ; and which, by its march and conquest, would spread 
desolation and ruin through the country, to a much greater extent than 
H3 



230 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXVIII. 

Junot's unopposed columns. The alternative of submission was there- 
fore adopted ; and the royal family, with their archives, treasure, plate 
and most valuable effects, embarked on board their fleet, consisting of 
eight sail of the line, three frigates, five sloops and a number of merchant 
vessels. Seldom has there been seen a more melancholy procession 
than that which preceded (heir embarkation, or one more calculated to 
impress the mind with the magnitude of the calamities brought on the 
nations of Europe by Napoleon's unbounded ambition. The insane 
queen was in the first carriage ; she had lived in seclusion for sixteen 
years, but a ray of light entered her mind at this extremity, and she un- 
derstood and approved the noble act of self-devotion : the widowed prin- 
cess and the Infanta Maria, with the princess of Brazil, followed; and 
after them came the prince regent, pale, and weeping to leave thus, and 
apparently for ever, the land of his fathers. In the depth of the royal 
distress, the multitude forgot their own dangers ; and, thronging around 
the illustrious fugitives, wept as at the severance of the dearest family 
ties. It was some consolation to the crowd, as they watched the receding 
sails of the exiled fleet, to see the ships greeted with a royal salute while 
passing the British squadron ; a courtesy emblematic of the protection 
Great Britain afterward extended to her ancient ally in her darkest hour 
of peril. 

The fleet had hardly cleared the bar and disappeared from the shores 
of Europe, when Junot's advanced guard, reduced to sixteen hundred 
men in the greatest destitution, reached the barriers of Lisbon. No 
resistance was offered ; but, on the contrary, as the French soldiers were 
literally dying from hunger and fatigue, the humane inhabitants received 
them with kindness, and by timelj'^ aid saved the lives of those, through 
whose instrumentality they were to be subjected to a foreign tyrant. 
Junot immediately took military possession of the country ; and as the 
detachments of his corps severally arrived, they were quartered in the 
capital and the fortresses in its vicinity, over all of which the tricolor 
flag now floated. 

As the French general, for a time, pursued the policy and enforced the 
laws of the supplanted government, the inhabitants began to hope that 
they would escape the ordinary calamities of a conquered nation ; but 
they were soon undeceived. In addition to the maintenance of the 
French troops, whose numbers daily increased, and the burden of whose 
support fell on the country as a matter of course, forced loans were ex- 
acted to a ruinous amount ; English property of every description was 
confiscated, together with the property of the royal family, and that of all 
who accompanied their flight ; the ports were closed against British 
ships, and the trade of the capital sunk at once into insignificance. 
Shortly afterward, Junot dissolved the existing government, and took 
personal charge of the administration in the name of Napoleon. A sys- 
tem of private spoliation and robbery thenceforward ensued, in which all 
the invaders participated, from the general-in-chief down to the meanest 
soldier. These exactions and oppressions soon roused to the utmost the 
indignation of the inhabitants ; but as yet, they were too firmly held in 
the conqueror's grasp to be able to act against his authority. 

The royal family of Spain, at this period, was divided and distracted 
by political intrigue. The king, Charles IV., though not destitute of 
ability, was sc indolent and so desirous of enjoying, on a throne, the tran- 



1807.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 231 

quillity of private life, that, on ordinary occasions, he surrendered him- 
self to the direction of the queen and Godoy, known also as the Prince 
of Peace. The queen was a woman of spirit and capacity, but sensual, 
intriguing, and almost entirely governed by Don Manuel Godoy, a min- 
ister whom her criminal favor had raised from the humblest station to the 
chief directorship of the affairs of the kingdom. The Prince of Asturias, 
afterward Ferdinand VII., and now heir-apparent to the Spanish throne, 
was under the guidance of a swarm of flatterers, among whom the Canon 
Escoiquiz, an ecclesiastic of remarkable talents, was the most influential ; 
so that, in effect, two parties existed at the Spanish court ; one, under the 
control of Godoy, and the other, of Escoiquiz. These divisions were 
propitious to Napoleon's designs, and he prepared to take advantage of 
them by a secret correspondence with Godoy, and by sending Beauhar- 
nois, as ambassador to Madrid, to open private conferences with the 
prince's party. He at the same time entered into a treaty at Paris, with an 
ambassador of Charles IV., by which the partition of Portugal between 
France, Spain and some inferior powers, was stipulated ; permission 
granted for the assembling of forty thousand French troops at Bayonne, 
who were to be marched across the Spanish territory to Portugal, in case 
of need ; and the integrity of his dominions guarantied to the Spanish 
king. 

This treaty, known as the treaty of Fontainebleau, was signed by Na- 
poleon on the 29th of October. On the 22nd of November, the army of 
forty thousand men at Bayonne was increased to sixty thousand ; and 
these troops, without any authority from the Spanish government, or any 
regard to the fact that their services were not required in Portugal, were 
marched across the Spanish frontier, and took the road, not to Lisbon, but 
to Madrid. This step was followed by a message from the Emperor to 
the Senate, requiring a levy of eighty thousand conscripts from the class 
of 1809; a demand for which there was no apparent reason, now that 
the continental wars were terminated by the treaty of Tilsit. Soon after, 
the French troops, by a succession of fraud and stratagem equally inge- 
nious and dishonoi-able, made themselves masters of the four frontier 
fortresses of Spain ; namely, Pampeluna, Barcelona, San Fernando de 
Figueras, and St. Sebastians. These conquests gave them the command 
of the only passes practicable for an army from France into the Penin- 
sula ; and they were made not only during a period of profound peace, 
but within a few months of the time when a solemn treaty had been con- 
cluded between the two countries, by which France guarantied the integ- 
rity of the Spanish territory. Napoleon followed up his success with his 
accustomed vigor, by ordering fresh troops to the newly-acquired for- 
tresses, accumulating magazines within their walls, and bestowing minute 
attention to the perfecting of their defences. The whole country, from 
the Bidassoa to the Duoro, was covered with armed men, the Spanish 
authorities in the towns were supplanted by Frenchmen, and before a 
single shot had been fired or an angry note interchanged between the 
cabinets of Paris and Madrid, the whole of Spain north of the Ebro was 
wrested from the crown of Castile. 

Napoleon soon made a formal demand for the annexation of the terri. 
tory thus acquired to the French Empire, offering in return to cede to 
Spain his portion of Portugal ; but this condition was illusory on its face, 
as, in defiance of the treaty of Fontainebleau, he had already taken pos- 



232 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXVIII. 

session, in his own name, of the whole Portuguese dominion. Indeed, 
Napoleon's purpose to appropriate to himself the entire Peninsula became 
now so manifest, that the king resolved to imitate the example of the 
Prince Regent of Portugal : he made immediate though secret arrange- 
ments to proceed to Seville, and embark thence for America. At the 
same time Napoleon, maintaining to the last his detestable system of hy- 
pocrisy, sent the king a present of twelve beautiful horses, with a letter 
announcing his " intended visit to his friend and ally, the King of Spain, 
in order to cement their friendship by personal intercourse, and arrange 
the affairs of the Peninsula without the restraint of diplomatic forms." 
But the court of Madrid had at last learned to estimate truly their rela- 
tions with France, and the friendship of Napoleon : they therefore hast- 
ened their preparations for departure. It was not long before rumors of 
the intended flight began to circulate ; and on the morning of March 
17th, tumultuous crowds assembled at Aranjuez to prevent the journey. 
When the royal carriages were drawn up in front of the palace, they took 
possession of them and cut the traces ; they then proceeded to the hotel 
of the Prince of Peace, whom they denounced as the author of their 
calamities, and ransacked every apartment in search of him. To ap- 
pease their wrath, the king issued a proclamation depriving Godoy of his 
offices, and banishing him from the court. This measure, however, did 
not satisfy them : they seized Don Diego Godoy, a relative of the Prince 
of Peace, and conducted him with much personal indignity to his barracks. 
At the same time, the royal guards, when sounded as to their willingness 
to resist the insurgents, should they attack the palace, answered, that "the 
Prince of Asturias could alone insure the public safety." That prince 
soon afterward appeared and dispersed the multitude with such ease, that 
it was impossible to doubt he had some agency in exciting the revolt. 
The night passed off tranquilly ; but on the following day, a fresh tumult 
arose in consequence of the discovery and seizure of Godoy by the people. 
The guards interfered to save him from immediate execution, and bore 
him to the nearest prison ; when the mob, prevented from wreaking their 
vengeance on the chief object of their hatred, separated into parties, tra- 
versed the streets in various directions, and sacked and pulled down the 
houses of Godoy's principal friends and dependents. 

'At length Ferdinand, to whom all eyes were now turned as the only 
person capable of arresting the public disorders, at the earnest entreaty 
of the king and queen, repaired to the prison at the head of his guards, 
and prevailed on the mob to retire. " Are you yet king ?" inquired the 
Prince of Peace, when Ferdinand presented himself. " Not yet," an- 
swered Ferdinand, " but soon shall be." In effect, Charles IV., deserted 
by his court, overwhelmed by the opprobrium heaped on his minister, 
unable to trust his own guards, and in hourly apprehension that not only 
Godoy, but also his queen and himself might be murdered, deemed a 
resignation of the crown the only means of securing personal safety to 
any of the three: in the evening, therefore, of March 19th, he issued a 
proclamation, relinquishing the throne in favor of the Prince of Asturias. 

The prince was at once proclaimed king, under the title of Ferdinand 
VII. ; an event which, joined to the fall of Godoy, caused a universal 
rejoicing. The surrender of the frontier fortresses, the occupation of the 
northern provinces by a hundred thousand French troops, the approach 
of Napoleon's Imperial Guard — these were forgotten by the people in 



1808.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 233 

their triumph over the traitors who had betrayed the nation. The houses 
in Madrid were decorated during the day with flowers and green boughs, 
and at night a spontaneous illumination burst forth in every part of the 
capital. 

While the Spaniards were exulting at the accession of a new monarch 
to the throne, Murat, at the head of the French troops, rapidly approached 
Madrid. On the 15th of March, he set out from Burgos, with the corps of 
Moncey, the Imperial Guard, and the artillery, taking the road to Somo- 
Sierra. On the same day, Dupont, with two divisions of his corps and the 
cavalry, marched for the Guadarama pass, while his third division remained 
at Valladolid to observe the Spanish troops in Galicia. As soon as these 
forces evacuated Burgos, their place was supplied by the army of reserve 
under Bessiei'cs. The whole body moved on by brigades, taking with 
them provisions for fifteen days and fifty rounds of ball-cartridge for each 
man : they bivouacked at night with patrols set, and all the other precau- 
tions usual in an enemy's territor]^. They proclaimed, that they were 
bound for the camp at St. Roque to act agamst the English ; but they 
belied their pacific declarations by arresting the mails and all Spanish 
soldiers whom they met on the road, in order to prevent any intelligence 
of their approach from preceding them. On the 23rd of March, Murat 
reached Madrid with the cavalry and Imperial Guard, and established 
his quarters at Godoy's hotel. This formidable apparition excited much 
less notice than it would otherwise have done, in consequence of every 
one's being engaged in preparing for the triumphal entry of the new king, 
appointed for the following day. Ferdinand came, in accordance with 
this arrangement, accompanied by two hundred thousand citizens of all 
ranks, in carriages, on horseback and on foot ; and Murat, who saw the 
enthusiasm with which the monarch was received, wrote the particulars 
to Napoleon, and commented on the probable effect of placing so popular 
a prince permanently at the head of affairs in Spain. 

Ferdinand, aware of the importance of being recognized by the French 
Emperor, was now assiduous in attempts to cultivate a good understanding 
with Murat ; but that officer, well knowing Napoleon's designs on the 
Spanish throne, steadily repelled his advances. On the other hand, 
Charles IV. and his queen daily solicited Murat to take Godoy under his 
protection, while the ex-king averred that he had abdicated under com- 
pulsion and desired to recall his act. It was easy for Murat, while thus 
holding the rival parties in expectation of his support and in dread of his 
displeasure, to take military possession of the capital ; which he did ac- 
cordingly, and nominated General Grouchy governor of Madrid. En- 
couraged by this success, Murat demanded supplies for the food, clothing 
and pay of his troops, which were promptly granted. He then hinted 
that the French Emperor would be pleased to receive a visit, on the 
frontier of the kingdom, from Don Carlos, the king's brother ; and as this 
courtesy was readily conceded, Beauharnois ventured to suggest that the 
amicable relations between the two potentates would be specially pro- 
moted, if Ferdinand would himself proceed as far as Burgos to receive 
his illustrious guest. But the suspicions of Ferdinand's advisers were 
aroused by this proposal ; and the inhabitants, displeased at the coolness 
manifested toward their sovereign by the French authorities, began to 
consider their means of expelling the invaders from the country. 

On the 26th of March, the French Emperor, who was still at Paris, 



234 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXVIII 

received intelligence of the tumult at Aranjuez. He immediately sent 
a letter to his brother Louis, oflering him the crown of Spain ; but Louis, 
who, on the throne of Holland, had sufficiently experienced the chains 
of servitude and the responsibilities of command, had the good sense to 
decline its acceptance. Napoleon at the same time held a conference 
at St Cloud, with Isquierdo, the Spanish minister, on the state of public 
opinion in the Peninsula, and the feelings with which the people of 
Spain would regard a prince of his family, or even himself, for their 
sovereign. Isquierdo replied, "The Spaniards would accept your ma- 
jesty for their king with pleasure, and even with enthusiasm ; but only 
in the event of your having previously renounced the crown of France." 
Nanoleon was much struck with this answer, and after some deliberation 
he resolved to get both Charles and Ferdinand into his power. For this 
purpose, he sent to Madrid the most unprincipled and adroit of his min- 
ions, Savary ; chai-ging him to say and promise in his name, anything and 
everything which could induce the feigning monarch to undertake the 
journey to Burgos. 

When Savary arrived at Madrid, he thus addressed Ferdinand : " I 
have come at the particular desire of the Emperor, solely to offer his 
compliments to your majesty, and to know if your sentiments toward 
France are similar to those of your father. If they are, the Emperor 
will shut his eyes to all that is past; he will not intermeddle in the 
slightest degree with the internal affairs of the kingdom, and he will in- 
stantly recognize you as King of Spain and the Indies." This gratifying 
assurance was accompanied by so many flattering expressions and so 
much apparent cordiality, that it entirely deceived Ferdinand and his 
counsellors ; and Savary so pressed his entreaties that the king would go 
at least as far as Burgos to meet the Emperor, who was already near 
Bayonne on his road to Madrid, that all objections were overcome, and 
Ferdinand, accompanied by the French envoy, set forth on his journey 
on the 10th of April. 

The king, in passing through the northern provinces, was received 
with the strongest testimonials of devotion ; yet even the simple inhab- 
itants of Castile, who were untrammelled by delusions of court intrigue, 
beheld with undisguised anxiety the progress of their sovereign toward 
the French frontier. When the cavalcade arrived at Burgos, the king's 
counsellors were greatly disturbed and alarmed to find that Napoleon 
was not there, and that no advices had been received of his approach: 
they therefore insisted on his majesty's discontinuing his journey. But 
Savary interfered, protesting loudly against a step which, he alleged, 
would evince an undue and ungenerous want of confidence in the Em- 
peror, and might lead to serious consequences by disturbing the present 
good understanding between the two monarchs. "I will let you cut off 
my head," said he, "if, within a quarter of an hour after your majesty's 
arrival at Bayonne, the Emperor does not recognize you as King of 
Spain and the Indies." These words were decisive with the king, and 
he recommenced his journey, although the people assembled in crowds 
to dissuade him from so doing, and, at Vittoria, even threatened to pre- 
vent his advance by force. At that place, too, a faithful counsellor fore- 
told in detail the dangers that awaited his interview with the French 
Emperor, and suggested a plan for his escape ; but Savary's artifice and 
falsehoods overpowered every other consideration, and Ferdinand con- 



1808.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 235 

tinued his route to Bayonne, where he committed himself to the honor of 
Napoleon. 

Before the king left Madrid, he intrusted the government to a regency, 
of which the Infant Don Antonio was the nominal head ; but Murat was 
the real centre of authority, the presence of thirty thousand French 
troops giving him an influence that could not be resisted. Murat's first 
step after the king's departure, was an order for the delivery into his 
hands of the Prince of Peace, whom he dispatched to Bayonne, under a 
strong guard. He next conferred with the old king and queen; and on 
their reiterating to him that the late abdication was a forced procedure, 
he advised the ex-sovereign to repair with his queen to Bayonne, and lay 
their grievances at the feet of Napoleon : which he accordingly did. 

As the French Emperor had now the royal family of Spain in his 
power, he gave Murat minute instructions for carefully and gradually 
undermining their influence with the inhabitants, in order to pave the 
way for a peaceable usurpation of the throne, with its titles and immu- 
nities. But it soon appeared that, capable as Murat had hitherto proved 
himself, this task was beyond his powers of dissimulation and intrigue : 
he was too much accustomed to the despotic rule of military force, to 
assume at once, and in circumstances singularly difficult, the foresight 
and circumspection of an experienced diplomatist. After it was known 
that both Ferdinand and his father had crossed the frontier, and placed 
themselves in the Emperor's power, the previous discontents in the cap- 
ital rapidly increased; numberless rencontres ensued between the inhab- 
itants and the troops, and Murat was irritated to declare that he would 
prevent all assemblages for any purpose in the streets, and punish with 
military severity any one who opposed his soldiers in the discharge of 
their duty. Both parties now became exasperated in the highest degree, 
and during this state of ebullition, matters were brought to a crisis by a 
demand from Murat that the remainder of the royal family, consisting of 
the queen of. Etruria and the Infants Don Francisco and Don Antonio, 
should immediately set out for Bayonne. The regency were intimidated 
into compliance with this order, but the people interfered to prevent its 
execution. While the carriages were in waiting at the palace, an aid- 
de-camp of Murat pushed his way through the crowd to hasten their 
departure, when the rumor was circulated that this officer was about to 
use personal violence toward the young prince. The aid-de-camp was 
immediately assailed, and would probably have been killed on the spot, 
but for the arrival of a company of French soldiers, who rescued and 
bore him to head-quarters. 

Murat, enraged at this insult to his authority, sent a detachment of 
troops with two pieces of cannon, and by several discharges of grape- 
shot on the unarmed multitude around the palace, soon restored order. 
But the sound of these cannon echoed from one end of the Peninsula to 
the other, and eventually shook the Empire of Napoleon to its foundation. 
The whole city instantly flew to arms. All considerations of conse- 
quences were forgotten in the intense fury of the moment ; knives, dag- 
gers, and bayonets, were seized wherever they could be found; the 
gunsmiths' shops were ransacked for fire arms; and many straggling 
detachments of French soldiers were surrounded and put to death. Such 
a tumultuary effort, however, could not long prevail against the dis- 
cipline and skill of regular troops, who, being ordered to charge through 



236 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXVIII. 

the streets in great numbers, at length dispersed the populace : the loss 
on each side was about three hundred men. 

Hitherto, neither party in this affair deserved much blame ; the tumult, 
however deplorable in its consequences, was the effect of an unpremed- 
itated collision ; and the blood that had been shed was the result of pas- 
sion and excitement on the part of the belligerents, for which, strictly- 
speaking, Napoleon, by his infamous invasion of a friendly country, was 
personally and solely responsible. But after the fighting had ceased and 
the danger was over, Murat, instead of humanely making allowances for 
the circumstances of exasperation in which the Spaniards were placed, 
and endeavoring to improve the occurrence to his own advantage by 
conciliatory measures, immediately seized a large number of Spanish 
citizens, as they were, in various quarters of the town, walking the 
streets or pursuing their avocations, hurried them before a military tri- 
bunal, and condemned them to be shot. Preparations were made to 
carry this sentence into execution ; the mournful intelligence flew 
through Madrid ; and all who missed relations or friends, became over- 
whelmed with the agonizing fear that they were among these victims of 
French barbarity. While the people remained in this state of excite- 
ment, and the approach of night augmented the general consternation, 
the firing began; the regular discharges of heavy platoons at the Retiro, 
in the Prado, the Puerto del Sol, and the church of Seilora de la Soledad, 
then told too plainly that the work of death was in progress. The dis- 
mal sounds froze every heart with terror; all that had been suffered 
during the heat of the preceding conflict in the streets, seemed as nothing 
compared to the horrors of that cold-blooded execution. Nor did the 
general grief abate, when the particulars of the massacre became known. 
Numbers were put to death, who had no concern whatever in the tumult ; 
those who suffered were denied the last consolations of religion, and were 
slain in pairs, being tied together two and two, and dispatched by re- 
peated discharges of musketry. 

This atrocious massacre of the citizens of an independent sovereignty 
for no greater crime, at most, than the defence of their lawful rights 
against the oppression of a foreign tyrant, was equally impolitic and out- 
rageous; and the indignation which it excited throughout Spain is inde- 
scribable. With a rapidity that could not have been anticipated in a 
country where but little internal communication existed, the intelligence 
spread from city to city, from province to province, and awakened that 
feeling of national resentment which, when properly directed, is the cer- 
tain forerunner of great achievements. Actuated by a spirit unknown 
in Europe since the first revolutionary movements in France, the people 
in every province, without any previous concert, or any direction from 
the existing authorities, began to assemble and devise plans for the de- 
fence of the kingdom. Far from being intimidated by the enemy's pos- 
session of their capital and principal fortresses, they were the more 
roused to exertion by these untoward disadvantages. Nor was the 
movement one of faction or party; it animated men of all ranks, classes 
and professions ; it was universal, unpremeditated, simultaneous ; and in 
an inconceivably short time. Napoleon found himself involved in a bloody 
strife with the whole Spanish nation. 

The Princes Don Francisco and Don Antonio, intimidated by the vio- 
lence of Murat, and unable to resist his authority, set out for Bayonne on 



1808.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 237 

the day after the tumult at Madrid, leaving the capital, without any 
organized native government, entirely in the hands of the French gen- 
erals. But, in the meantime, matters had reached a crisis between Na- 
poleon and the royal family. When Ferdinand met the French Emperor 
at Bayonne, he was received with marked kindness and courtesy, and in- 
vited to dine at the Imperial head-quarters. After the repast, Ferdinand 
returned to his hotel, leaving Escoiquiz to confer with Napoleon : but he 
had hardly reached his lodgings, when Savary followed him to announce 
the Emperor's determination, that he must instantly resign his throne of 
both Spain and the Indies in favor of a prince of the Bonaparte dynasty : 
and hopes were held out that, should he do this amicably, he might obtain 
the Grand-duchy of Tuscany as an equivalent. Ferdinand, though 
astounded at this tyrannical perfidy, made no decisive reply at the mo- 
ment. He, however, conferred with his counsellors, and eventually re- 
fused to accede to the proposal, accompanying his refusal with a demand 
for his passports. 

Napoleon was greatly perplexed at the firmness of Ferdinand. It did 
not, indeed, cause him to hesitate a moment in his design of dethroning 
the Bourbons, but he preferred to do this under the cover of legal forms, 
rather than by open violence. He therefore declined for the present to 
grant passports to Ferdinand, and referred to Charles IV., hoping to find 
in the father a more pliant instrument than the son. In this expectation 
he was not disappointed. After the Prince of Peace, the queen and the 
old king had been sufficiently wrought upon by flattery and threats, Fer- 
dinand was summoned to an interview with them, when Charles com- 
manded him to execute a simple and unqualified resignation of the crown, 
signed by himself and his brothers. He was given to understand that, in 
case of refusal, he and his counsellors would be prosecuted as traitors. 
Nevertheless, Ferdinand steadily adhered to his determination, and defi- 
nitely refused to resign his claims to the crown, except in a manner so 
qualified as to defeat the purposes of the Emperor. But the latter easily 
prevailed on Charles to execute a formal abdication in his favor, on con- 
dition of maintaining the Catholic religion, of preserving entire the Spanish 
dominions, and of granting pensions for life to the several members of the 
royal family. 

On the day that this convention was signed, a secret deputation reached 
Ferdinand from the remaining members of the regency at Madrid, inqui- 
ring whether they might remove their place of assembly, as they were, in 
the capital, subject to the control of the French army; whether they 
should declare war against France, and endeavor to resist the further en- 
trance of the French troops into the Peninsula ; and whether, in the event 
of his (Ferdinand's) being unable to return, they should assemble the 
Cortes. Ferdinand answered, that as he was deprived of his liberty, he 
could take no steps to save either himself or the monarchy ; that he 
therefore authorized the junta of the government to add new members to 
their department, to remove whomsoever they pleased, and to exercise all 
the functions of sovereignty ; that they were to oppose the entrance of 
fresh troops, and commence hostilities as soon as he should be removed to 
France ; and, finally, that the Cortes must be convoked to take measures 
for the defence of the kingdom, and for such ulterior objects as might re- 
quire their attention. The decrees necessary to carry these instructions 
into effect, were taken to Madrid by an officer destined to future celebrity, 
Don Joseph Palafox. 



238 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXVm. 

Napoleon was soon after relieved from the embarrassment which Fer- 
dinand's resolute opposition occasioned, by intelligence of the tumult at 
Madrid. He at once changed his ground, denounced the king for the con- 
duct of his people, and ended by a significant intimation that his obstinacy 
would endanger his own life and that of his brothers. As nothing, now, 
could be gained by resistance, Ferdinand resolved to submit. On the 
10th of May, he signed a treaty assenting to his father's resignation of the 
Spanish crown in favor of Napoleon, and receiving in return the title of 
Most Serene Highness, with the investiture of the palace, park and farms 
of Navarre, and an annuity of six hundred thousand francs from the 
French treasury. The same rank, with an annuity of four hundred thou- 
sand francs, was conferred on the Infants Don Carlos and Antonio. When 
this treaty was completed, the Emperor removed Ferdinand and his 
brothers to Bordeaux, where the two princes signed a renunciation of their 
rights to the throne, and Ferdinand was compelled to affix his name to a 
proclamation, counselling submission to the Spanish people. The three 
royal captives were afterward removed to Valencay, and they remained 
there during the war. 

Having succeeded in dispossessing the Bourbon family, and obtaining a 
semblance of legal title to the Spanish throne, Napoleon resolved to cre- 
ate his brother Joseph king of Spain, and confer the crown of Naples, 
which Joseph then held, upon Murat. On the 6th of June, Joseph was 
accordingly proclaimed King of Spain and the Indies at Bayonne, and a 
proclamation, issued by Napoleon, convoked an assembly of one hundred 
and fifty notables, to meet at that city on the 15th of the same month, for 
regulating the affairs of the kingdom. Of the notables thus summoned, 
ninety-two, comprising some of the principal nobles and prominent men 
in Spain, met at Bayonne in conformity to the proclamation, and formally 
accepted the Constitution prepared for them by Napoleon. 

This instrument provided, that the crown should be vested in Joseph 
Bonaparte and his heirs-male ; whom failing, the Emperor and his heirs- 
male ; and in default of both, to the other brothers of the Imperial family 
in their order of seniority, but on condition that the crown should not be 
united with any other crown in the person of one sovereign. A Legisla- 
ture was created, to consist of eighty members, nominated by the king. 
A Cortes was also decreed, to consist of a hundred and seventy-two mem- 
bers, thus composed : twenty-five archbishops and bishops and twenty-five 
grandees, on the first bench ; sixty-two deputies of the provinces of Spain 
and the Indies and thirty from the principal towns, on the second ; and 
fifteen from the merchants and manufacturers and fifteen from the depart- 
ments of arts and sciences, on the third. The first fifty of these, comprising 
the peers, were appointed by the king but could not be displaced by him ; 
the second class of ninety-two was elected by the provinces and munici- 
palities ; and the third was appointed by the king from lists presented to 
him by the tribunals of commerce and the universities. The delibera- 
tions of the Cortes were to be private, and the publication of any of its 
proceedings was denounced under the penalties of high treason. Its 
duties were to arrange the national finances and expenditures for three 
years at one sitting. The colonies were to have a deputation of twenty- 
two persons constantly at the seat of government to' superintend their in- 
terests ; all exclusive exemptions from taxes were abolished ; entails 
permitted only to the amount of twenty thousand piastres, and with the 



1808.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 239 

consent of the king ; an alliance offensive and defensive was concluded 
with France, and a promise given for the establishment of the liberty of 
the press within two years after the acceptance of the new Constitution. 
On the 9th of July, King Joseph set out for the capital of his dominions, 
with a splendid cortege and amid the roar of artillery. Napoleon returned 
to St. Cloud, having refused to visit Ferdinand on his route, although per- 
sonally requested to do so by the dethroned sovereign. Charles IV., after 
testifying his entire satisfaction at the Emperor's proceedings, solicited 
permission to remove to Marseilles, where, in ease and obscurity, he lin- 
gered out the remainder of his inglorious life. 

The ministry appointed by Joseph before his departure from Bayonne, 
were taken c1)iefly from the counsellors of Ferdinand ; and this selection, 
together with their ready acceptance of their new dignities, throws a deep 
shade of doubt over the fidelity with which they had served the Prince of 
Asturias during his brief possession of the Spanish throne. Don Luis de 
Urquijo, was made Secretary of State ; Don Pedro Cevallos, Minister of 
Foreign Affairs ; Don Sebastian de Pinnela, Minister of Justice ; Don Gon- 
zalo O'Farrel, Minister at War; and Mazaredo, Minister of the Marine. 
Even Escoiquiz wrote to Joseph, protesting his devotion, and declaring 
that he and the rest of Ferdinand's household " were willing blindly to 
obey his will to the most minute particular." The Duke del Infantado 
and the Prince of Castel-Franco were appointed, severally, to the com- 
mand of the Spanish and Walloon guards. Thus, the new king entered 
Madrid, where he arrived on the 20th of July, surrounded by the highest 
grandees and most illustrious titles of Spain. Nevertheless, his reception 
at the capital was gloomy in the extreme. The orders issued for the de- 
coration of the houses, were disregarded ; a crowd assembled to see the 
cortege, but no shouts welcomed its approach ; the bells of the churches 
rang a dismal peal, and every countenance was full of sorrow. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1808 IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 

The Spanish Peninsula, in which a bloody war was now commencing, 
and where the armies of France and England found, at last, a perma- 
nent theatre of conflict, differs in many important particulars from every 
other country on the Continent. Physically considered, it belongs as 
much to Africa as to Europe : the same burning sun parches the moun- 
tains and dries up the valleys of both. Vegetation, in general, spreads 
only where irrigation can be obtained ; and with that powerful auxiliary, 
the steepest acclivities of Catalonia and Arragon are clothed in luxuriant 
green ; while, without it, vast districts in Leon and the Castiles are 
almost destitute of cultivation and inhabitants. The desert tracts of 
Spain are so extensive that the country, viewed from the high ridges 
which intersect the interior provinces, exhibits only a confused group of 
barren elevated plains and lofty naked peaks, relieved by a few glit- 
tering streams, having on their margins crops, flocks, and the traces 



240 HISTORY OF EUROPE-. [Chap. XXIX. 

of habitable dwellings. The whole country may be considered as a 
vast mountainous promontory, that stretches from the Pyrenees, south- 
wardly, between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean sea. On the bor- 
ders of the ridge, to the east and v/est, are plains of admirable fertility; 
while the centre consists of an assemblage of heights, in the midst 
of which lies Madrid, in an upland basin, eighteen hundred feet above 
the level of the sea. This great central region is intersected by three 
causeways leading, severally, from Madrid to Bayonne, by the Somo- 
Sierra pass, to Valencia, and to Barcelona : in every other quarter, the 
roads are little better than mountain paths communicating with walled 
towns, built on the summits of hills, and surrounded by olive forests, but 
having little intercourse with each other or with the rest of Europe. 
There are but two great and rich alluvial plains in Spain ; in one, Valenr 
cia, amid luxuriant harvests and the richest gifts of nature, the castanets 
and evening dance represent the careless gayety of the tropical regions ; 
and in the second, Andalusia, abounding in myrtle thickets and orange 
groves, the indolent habits, fiery character and impetuous disposition of the 
inhabitants, attest the undecaying influence of Moorish blood and Arabian 
descent. 

The aggregate of forces destined to operate in this romantic field was 
immense. Napoleon had no less than six hundred thousand disposable 
French troops under his command, besides a hundred and fifty thousand 
drawn from the Confederation of the Rhine, Italy, Naples, Holland and 
the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Nor did the numerical strength of this 
host exceed its efficiency. The ranks of the French army were, to a 
great extent, filled with veterans who had seen fifteen years of active 
service ; and who, by their experience, their skill, and their confidence 
arising from a hundred former victories, might be considered as nearly 
invincible as any soldiers who ever took the field. The disposable Brit- 
ish army in the spring of 1808, exclusive of the militia, the volunteers, 
and the regular troops occupied in defence of the various colonies of the 
Empire, amounted to a hundred thotasand men, in the highest state of dis- 
cipline and equipment. The military establishment of Spain, when the 
contest commenced, was far from being considerable, as the entire force 
that could be brought into action did not exceed seventy thousand men, 
who were stationed at remote points, and whose qualities as soldiers were 
far inferior to those of the British and French troops. 

The first effervescence of public indignation caused by the massacres 
at Madrid, was followed by a series of revolts in the principal towns 
of Spain, which were marked by frightful atrocities : natives of France, 
of whatever occupation, were indiscriminately put to death, and the evi- 
dences furnished by these bloody deeds of the ruthless character of Cas- 
tilian revenge, too truly symbolized the ferocious warfare that was about 
to desolate the country. Nor were the early movements of the Spaniards 
confined to isolated revolts. In the beginning of June, the Spanish troops 
at Cadiz, under General Morla, made preparations to capture the French 
fleet of five ships of the line and one frigate, then lying in the harbor 
of that port. Batteries were constructed to command the whole bay ; 
and, on the 9th of June, they opened their fire with decisive effect. 
The French admiral, finding escape and resistance equally impossible, 
entered into negotiations with Morla, and, on the 14th of June, he uncon- 
ditionally surrendered the whole fleet to the Spanish commander. These 



1808.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 241 

successes, combined with the universal spirit of resistance throughout the 
kingdom, led to a speedy assemblage of volunteer forces, which soon 
amounted, in the several provinces, to a hundred and fifty thousand men, 
all armed, to a certain extent disciplined, and with an invincible personal 
courage, ready to cooperate with and support the movements of the regu- 
lar army. 

Marshal Bessieres and General Frere made the first demonstration on 
the part of the French troops in Old Castile and Leon, where, by a suc- 
cession of combats with the ill-organized forces of Spain, they succeeded, 
by the middle of June, in disarming all opposition to the new government 
in those provinces. In Aragon, however, although that province was 
almost destitute of regular troops, the French arms met with more seri- 
ous resistance. By great exertions, Palafox and the junta of Saragossa 
had succeeded in arming and partially disciplining ten thousand volun- 
teer infantry, who were marched out of that city, under Marquis Lazan, 
and took post behind the Huecha, to oppose the advance of Lefebvre. 
Two actions ensued, in both of which the discipline of the French troops 
prevailed, and the Spaniards were driven back to Saragossa, where Pala- 
fox reorganized his army, and prepared for an obstinate defence. 

Saragossa is situated on the right bank of the Ebro, in the midst of a 
fertile plain, abounding in olive-gi'oves, vineyards, gardens, and all the 
evidences of long-continued civilization. It contained, at that period, 
fifty-five thousand inhabitants. The immediate vicinity of the town is 
flat, and in some places marshy. To the south, distant a quarter of a 
league, rises Mount Torre ro, on the side of which runs the canal of Ara- 
gon — a noble work, commenced by Charles V., forming a water commu- 
nication, without a lock, from Tudela to Saragossa. This hill commands 
the plain on the left bank of the Ebro, and overlooks the town. Several 
warehouses and other buildings, constructed for the commerce of the 
canal, were now intrenched and occupied by twelve hundred Spanish 
soldiers. The city itself, surrounded by a low brick wall, not more than 
twelve feet high and three feet thick, interrupted in many places by 
houses and convents which were built in its line, and pierced by eight 
gates, with no outworks, could scarcely be called fortified. But few 
guns fit for service were on the ramparts; the houses were strongly built 
of stone or brick, for the most part two stories high, and the massy piles 
of the convents, rising in many quarters like castles, offered strong posi- 
tions, when the walls of the town should be forced, for a desperate and 
inflamed population. Few generals in regular service would have thought 
of making a stand in such a city : but Florus has recorded that Numantia 
had neither walls nor towers, when it resisted so long and heroically 
the Roman legions ; and Colmenar, with a prophetic spirit, said early 
in the eighteenth century, " Saragossa is without defences, but the valor 
of its inhabitants supplies the want of ramparts." 

The resolution to defend Saragossa cannot with justice be ascribed to 
any single individual ; the glory belongs to the whole population, all of 
whom, in the first movements of confusion and excitement, had a share in 
the bold determination. When Palafox withdrew his defeated forces into 
the town, he either despaired of being able to defend it, or deemed it neces- 
sary to collect recnforcements from other quarters for a prolonged resist- 
ance ; and retired with a small body of troops to the northern bank of the 
river, leavin"g the armed population nearly unsupported to sustain the con- 



242 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXIX. 

test. Lefebvre, taking advantage of the Spanish commander's absence, 
commenced an assault ; but the people intrepidly stood on their defence, 
and, after a sharp contest, drove him back from the walls. Animated by 
this success, the inhabitants resolved to strengthen the fortifications and 
maintain the place. Men, women and children took part in the laborious 
duty ; cannon were dragged to the gates, loopholes struck out in the 
walls, fascines and gabions constructed with astonishing celerity, and in 
twenty-four hours the city was secure from a coup-de-main. 

Lefebvre's loss in this affair was very severe, and he became convinced 
that regular approaches were indispensable to the reduction of the town. 
He therefore withdrew from the gates, and dispatched orders for heavy 
artillery to Pampeluna and Bayonne. Meantime, Palafox returned to 
the relief of Saragossa with seven thousand infantry, a hundred horse, 
and four pieces of cannon ; but having encamped without the walls for 
the night, he was attacked by Lefebvre under cover of the darkness, and 
completely routed. He, however, made good his own entry into the 
city ; and as the battering train of the besiegers soon arrived, Saragossa 
was regularly and completely invested. 

A contest now ensued which has few parallels in history. The num- 
bers, resources and skill of the French troops rendered the e.xterior de- 
fences unavailing, and the slender walls being soon laid in ruins, the 
town was summoned to surrender. Palafox rejected the proposal, and 
the besiegers advanced to the assault. The combat at the breaches was 
long and bloody ; but at length the French penetrated into the streets, 
and supposed themselves in possession of Saragossa. Here, however, a 
desperate resistance awaited them. Every roof and window blazed with 
an incessant fire of musketry, which they could not return with effect, 
and they fell by hundreds before its withering storm. Powder maga- 
zines in different quarters blew up, the houses at various points took fire, 
but the battle still raged, day and night, from street to street, from door 
to door ; the roar of artillery and musketry, the explosion of bombs, the 
glare of conflagration and the cries of combatants continued, without 
intermission, for ten entire d^ys, at the end of which time, August 14th, 
Lefebvre retreated with immense loss, having been unable to make a 
permanent lodgment in any quarter of the town. 

A similar reverse awaited the French troops at Valencia, a town as 
imperfectly fortified and apparently as incapable of defence as Saragossa. 
Moncey, in the expectation of an easy victory, assaulted the place at the 
head of eight thousand men ; but the unconquerable heroism of the in- 
habitants was an overmatch for his utmost efforts, and he was compelled 
to retreat with a loss of two thousand of his best troops. 

These brilliant achievements excited the utmost enthusiasm throughout 
all Spain, and recruits flocked to the national standards, in the confident 
hope of sweeping the invaders across their own frontier. Blake and 
Cuesta, two Spanish generals of some note, resolved to unite their forces 
and give battle to Bessieres on the plains of Leon. They advanced ac- 
cordingly to Rio Seco, with twenty-five thousand men and thirty pieces 
of cannon. Bessieres's force did not exceed fifteen thousand, but the 
quality of his troops more than atoned for their inferiority of numbers. 
Cuesta, who as senior officer took the chief command, made the worst 
possible disposition for the battle. He posted Blake, with ten thousand 
of his least experienced soldiers, on a rugged plateau nearest the enemy ; 



1808.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 243 

while he took command in person of the remaining fifteen thousand, who 
were nearly all regular troops, a mile and a half in the rear. Bessieres 
readily took advantage of this insane division of the Spanish forces. 
Making a circuit with a considerable part of his army, he attacked Blake 
simultaneously in front, flank and rear, and at the first charge dispersed 
the whole division in hopeless disorder across the field. Cuesta advanced 
to the relief of his colleague, and at first made some impression on the 
French columns as they were confusedly pressing on Blake's retreat; 
but Bessieres soon rallied his men, and, by an impetuous and concentrated 
attack, broke and totally routed the second Spanish division. Cuesta's 
loss in this action was three thousand men killed and wounded, two 
thousand prisoners, and eighteen pieces of cannon : the loss of the French 
did not exceed twelve hundred men. In the course of the pursuit, the 
town of Rio Seco was taken, and given up to the sack and pillage of the 
soldiery. The result of this action destroyed the newly-acquired con- 
fidence of the Spaniards, and, in a proportionate degree, elevated the 
hopes of Napoleon who, when he received the intelligence, exultingly 
remarked, "Bessieres has placed Joseph on the throne of Spain ;" and he 
congratulated himself with the belief that the war was at an end. But 
he never formed a more erroneous opinion. 

Soon after the insurrections broke out, Dupont, with a considerable 
force, marched into Andalusia ; where, having gained several minor ad- 
vantages, he took possession of the city of Cordova, and delivered it to 
the pillage of his troops, in the same manner as if it had been carried by 
assault. A scene of indescribable horror ensued. Armed and unarmed 
men were slaughtered, women ravished, and the churches plundered: 
even the venerable cathedral, which had survived the devastation of the 
first Christian conquest, six hundred years before, was stripped of its 
ornaments, and polluted by the vilest debauchery. Money and articles 
of plate, to an enormous amount, were seized both for public purposes 
and for the private use of the troops ; and it is important to observe, that 
these extremities of outrage were committed against the inhabitants of a 
town who had offered little or no resistance to the invaders, who were 
not formally summoned to suri-ender, and who therefore, by all rules of 
civilized warfare, were entitled to the most liberal terms of capitulation. 

Dupont remained several days at Cordova ; but at length becoming 
alarmed at the insurrectionary movements of the inhabitants in the ad- 
joining country, and at the assembling of Spanish troops under Castanos 
and Reding, which threatened to cut off his communications with Madrid, 
he abandoned his original intention of a farther advance into Andalusia, 
and resolved to retreat upon the capital. He immediately organized his 
forces for this purpose and set forth, taking, in addition to the ordinary 
baggage of his army, a train of wagons loaded with the ill-gotten plunder 
of Cordova. His march was for a time uninterrupted, but he soon en- 
countered numerous detached parties at the fords and defiles of his route, 
from whom he met with serious opposition and loss ; and when he reached 
Andujar, he found himself completely enveloped. by the enemy. As his 
army was twenty thousand strong, he might, by a vigorous effort, have 
cut his way through his antagonist's lines; but, instead of so doing, he 
divided his troops, sent Vedel with a strong detachment toward Carolina, 
and himself retreated upon Baylen. He was here attacked by the Span- 
iards, and after a desperate but ineffectual resistance, solicited a suspen- 



244 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XXIX. 

sion of arms. Vedel, who had been ordered back to Dupont's assistance 
at the commencement of the action, arrived only in time to share its dis- 
asters ; and, after a brief negotiation, the French general, finding it 
impossible to escape the catastrophe, surrendered his entire force to 
Castanos on condition of being sent back by sea to France. The pris- 
oners, with the garrisons of a number of detached posts on their line of 
communication with Madrid, who also surrendered, amounted to twenty- 
one thousand men. Two thousand had fallen in the battle, one thousand 
were killed in the retreat preceding it, and thus twenty-four thousand 
effective troops were for the time lost to France, including all their arms 
and artillery. 

The account of this defeat reached Napoleon at Bordeaux, and he was 
so excited by the news that his attendant ministers were greatly alarmed. 
"Is your majesty ill?" said Maret. "No." "Has Austria declared 
war ?" " Would to God that were all !" " What, then, has happened ?" 
The Emperor recounted the details of the battle, and added, ".That an 
army should be beaten, is nothing ; it is the daily fate of Avar, and is 
easily repaired : but that an army should submit to a dishonorable capit- 
ulation, is a stain on the glory of our arms that can never be effaced. 
Wounds inflicted on honor are incurable. The moral effect of this catas- 
trophe, too, will be terrible. What ! he has had the infamy to give up 
our soldiers' haversacks to be searched like those of robbers ! Could I 
ever have expected that of General Dupont, a man whom I loved and 
was rearing up to become a marshal ? He says, he had no other way to 
prevent the destruction of the army and save the lives of the soldiers: 
but it were far better they had all perished, than suffer this disgrace." 

If, however, the capitulation of Baylen was dishonorable to the French, 
its subsequent violation was not less so to the Spaniards. As the long 
files of prisoners marched across the country toward Cadiz, the revengeful 
passions of the populace became excited to see so large a body of men, 
stained by robbery and murder committed within the dominions of Spain, 
about to embark for France, for no other purpose than to be again let 
loose in the Peninsula and commit similar outrages. The popular indig- 
nation soon rose to such a height, that Castanos failed in every attempt to 
restrain it; and when, during a collision between the prisoners and the 
people at Lebrixa, some of the sacred silver vessels stolen from Cordova 
were found among the baggage of the French soldiers, the governor of 
Cadiz, in conjunction with the junta of Seville, and in compliance with 
the demands of the exasperated populace, sent the vanquished troops to 
the hulks in the harbor of Cadiz, where they were confined during the 
war, and subjected to such hardships that few of them ever regained their 
native country. 

Joseph Bonaparte and his adherents were so alarmed at the result of 
the battle of Baylen, that they resolved to evacuate Madrid ; and, on the 
30th of July, the intrusive king commenced his retreat, having first 
ordered eighty pieces of heavy artillery, which he could not remove, to 
be spiked, and despoiled the palaces of all their jewels and other articles 
of value. The French troops were not molested by the Spaniards on 
their march, yet they robbed and burned every village and hamlet near 
which they passed. When Joseph arrived at Burgos, he was joined by 
Bessieres with his corps, and by Verdier with the force that had been 
driven from Saragossa; and these, together with the division of Moncey, 



]808.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 24& 

enabled him to take post behind the Ebro at the head of fifty thousand 
veterans. 

The feeling of discouragement among the French troops was not a 
little augmented by the ill success of their arms in Catalonia, where 
Generals Schwartz and Chabran, with two divisions of above four thou- 
sand men each, were severally defeated with great loss by the undis- 
ciplined but brave peasantry of that province. These reverses were 
followed by a more serious disaster at Gerona. General Duhesme, with 
six thousand men and a train of heavy artillery had laid siege to that 
town; but he was routed with a loss of nearly half his forces, all his 
stores, and thirty pieces of cannon. This accumulation of triumph pro- 
duced the happiest effect in animating the courage of the Spaniards ; but 
in the midst of their exultation it was observed, with regret, that few 
vigorous or efficient measures were adopted by the juntas for prosecuting 
the war. 

Meantime, Portugal became the theatre of important events. When 
the insurrection in the Peninsula first assumed a serious aspect, the 
British government resolved to throw their weight into the scale against 
Napoleon ; and they accordingly fitted out an expedition under the com- 
mand of Sir Arthur Wellesley, who arrived in Mondego Bay on the 31st 
of July. He commenced the disembarking of his troops on the day follow- 
ing, despite a strong west wind and heavy surf, and on the evening of the 
8th of August, his army of thirteen thousand men bivouacked on the beach. 
These troops took the field in the highest spirits and the most perfect state 
of discipline and equipment ; but their commander had the mortification 
to learn, in his first movements, that little reliance could be placed on the 
cooperation of the Portuguese soldiers for the defence of their own terri- 
tories. Doubtless, this backwardness on their part was owing to their 
fears of the French, and their want of confidence in the prowess of their 
allies, whom they deemed inadequate to contend with Napoleon's vete- 
rans. Sir Arthur nevertheless advanced into the country, and was 
received by the people with great enthusiasm. 

When Junot learned the arrival of the British troops, he called in his 
detached columns for the protection of Lisbon ; and Laborde, to gain 
time for the execution of this order, made a stand at Rolica, with five 
thousand men and five pieces of cannon. His gi'ound was well chosen, 
being an elevated plateau between two lofty hills, which, in front of his 
lines, were covered with rocky thickets and close underwood of myrtle. 
Sir Arthur moved to the attack in three columns ; directing two of them 
to make their way over the mountains and turn the flanks of the enemy, 
while he led the third in person against the front of the position. As 
soon as Laborde saw this combined movement, he fell back precipitately 
to a valley higher up in the gorge, where the natural defences of the 
ground promised to atone for his inferiority of numbers. The British 
columns pressed on in pursuit, and a spirited contest commenced, which 
ended in the retreat of Laborde, with a loss of six hundred men and 
three pieces of cannon. 

On the day after this action, and while the British troops were threat- 
ening the rear of Laborde's division. Sir Arthur ascertained that Junot 
was advancing toward him with his whole force, to offer a pitched battle; 
he therefore recalled his leading columns, and directed his march upon 
Vimiero where he established his head-quarters on the 19th of August. 



246 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap, XXIX. 

Early in the morning of the 21st, tlie French army approached the Eng- 
lish lines, and Laborde commenced an attack on their centre, which was 
promptly repulsed by the 50th regiment under Colonel Walker, who, 
throwing his men into echellon obliquely across the front and flank of 
an entire French brigade in close column, totally routed them before re- 
enforcements could come up. The battle was maintained with great 
spirit at all points ; but the French at length gave way, having sustained 
a loss of twenty-four hundred men and thirteen pieces of cannon, while 
the British loss did not exceed eight Imndred. Sir Arthur had now an 
opportunity to fall upon and destroy the retreating French columns ; but 
Sir Harry Burrard, who had arrived to supersede him in the chief com- 
mand, and who, being an officer of the old school, considered one victory 
a sufficient achievment for one week, positively forbade the advance of 
the troops ; whereupon Sir Arthur, concealing the bitterness of his disap- 
pointment under an affected gayety, said to the officers of his staff, " Gen- 
tlemen, nothing now remains for us, but to go and shoot led-legged 
partridges." 

Sir Harry Burrard retained the office of commander-in-chief for a 
brief period only, as Sir Hugh Dalrymple reached the British head-quar- 
ters on the next day, and superseded him ; so that, within thirty hours, 
a pitched battle had been fought, and three generals successively took 
the supreme direction of the army. After conferring with his two prede- 
cessors, Sir Hugh resolved to advance on the French position at Torres 
Vedras ; but at this juncture, a flag of truce from Junot's camp was an- 
nounced, and Kellerman came forward with proposals for an armistice. 
Negotiations were immediately commenced, which terminated in the 
Convention of Cintra. This instrument provided that the French troops 
should evacuate the whole kingdom of Portugal, surrender all the for- 
tresses they held in its dominions to the British, and be conveyed to 
France with the artillery directly appertaining to their corps, and a por- 
tion of their ammunition. A separate clause stipulated that the Russian 
fleet of ten line-of-battle ships, then lying in the harbor of Lisbon, should 
be surrendered to the English commander and conveyed to Great Britain, 
there to remain in deposite until six months after the conclusion of a gen- 
eral peace : but the officers and crews were to be sent to Russia without 
delay, at the expense of the British government. It was further provided, 
that the French troops should be allowed to take with them their individ- 
ual property ; when, however, it was discovered that their disgraceful 
system of pillage in Lisbon had despoiled the palaces, churches, private 
houses, public treasury, and even the museums of their most valuable 
eflfects, and that the whole army, from Junot down to the meanest soldier, 
had participated in the robbery, the compact was so far modified as to 
enforce a restoration of the plunder. The homeward movement of the 
troops was now hastened on, and, by the middle of October, not a French 
soldier remained on the soil of Portugal. 

This triumph, however, great as it undoubtedly was, did not satisfy 
the expectations of the British people ; and the three generals were or- 
dered home, to answer to a Court of Inquiry, for neglect of duty in allow- 
ing Junot's troops so easy an escape. They were eventually acquitted, 
but Sir Arthur Wellesley alone was again intrusted with any important 
command in the British army. In the mean time, Sir John Moore landed 
at Lisbon with a division of fresh troops, and took command of the Eng- 



1808.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 247 

lish forces. His first care was to put the fortresses of the kingdom in a 
condition of defence, and establish a central junta at Lisbon to administer 
the affairs of the government, in the absence of the Prince Regent. Hav- 
ing completed these preparations, he began his march for the seat of war 
at the foot of the Pyrenees. 

The campaign in the Peninsula had already produced an effect inimi- 
cal to France, in some of the other European states. Austria, as early 
as the 9th of June, taking alarm at Napoleon's progress, directed the 
formation of a landvvehr, or local militia, in all the provinces of her do- 
minions ; and the Archduke Charles, at the head of the War Department, 
had infused great activity into the several branches of the regular army. 
Count Metternich, the Austrian ambassador at Paris, when pressed by 
the French Emperor for the reason of these movements, alleged that the 
cabinet of Vienna was only imitating the conduct of their powerful neigh- 
bors, and that since Bavaria had adopted the French system of conscrip- 
tion, and organized a National Guard on the French model, it became 
necessary for Austria to take corresponding measures in self-defence. 

Napoleon had now resolved to pursue the Spanish war to extermina- 
tion, and he made new demands on the Senate of Paris for anticipating 
the conscriptions of 1809 and 1810 ; but as the immense increase of force 
thus obtained still fell short of his wishes, he entered into a new treaty 
with Prussia, by which he agreed, on condition of receiving a hundred 
and forty millions of francs, to evacuate the Prussian territory, retaining 
only the fortresses of Glogan, Stettin and Custrin, which were each to be 
garrisoned with four thousand French soldiers, and such garrisons sup- 
ported at the sole expense of Prussia. Nor did Napoleon stop here ; but, 
proceeding from measures of active preparation to those of a precaution- 
ary character, he solicited and obtained an interview with the Emperor 
Alexander at Erfurth. The two sovereigns met at that place on the 
27th of September, and remained in daily communication until the 14th 
of October ; when they separated never to meet again in this world. The 
conferences between the monarchs were not reduced to formal or secret 
treaties ; at least, the existence of such treaties has never been discov- 
ered or avowed : but they were not on that account the less important. 
The principal object of Napoleon was, to secure the cooperation of Rus- 
sia against Austria, should the latter power attempt a hostile movement 
on France, while he was engaged in the Peninsula ; and, in return, he 
consented to Alexander's uniting Finland, Moldavia and Wallachia to 
the Russian dominions ; and promised the future aid of France in extend- 
ing the Muscovite rule over the Asiatic Continent. At the same time, he 
agreed to relax somewhat in the terms of his last treaty with Prussia, 
reducing the amount of tlie contribution to a hundred and twenty-five 
millions of francs, more than half of which sum was stipulated to be paid 
in the promissory notes of the Prussian government. Two other subjects 
were introduced at this conference by Napoleon, which, without directly 
accomplishing the ends he had in view, excited the distrust and jealousy 
of Alexander, and destroyed the confidence and regard that he had lat- 
terly entertained towai'd the French Emperor. These were, a proposal 
to divorce Josephine and contract a marriage with the Grand-duchess 
Catherine, Alexander's favorite sister ; and the offer of certain equiva- 
lents for the cession of Constantinople to France. 

Napoleon reached Paris on the 29th of October ; and, having dis- 



248 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXIX. 

patched Murat to Naples, to take possession of the throne vacated by 
Joseph Bonaparte, he set out for Bayonne, to superintend in person the 
military operations in the Peninsula, where he had now assembled an 
army of no less than three hundred thousand men ; of whom, after de- 
ducting the garrisons in the northern fortresses of Spain, together with 
the sick and absent, fully one hundred and eighty thousand could be 
brought into active service on the Ebro : while his armies of reserve in 
France, which were preparing to join their brethren in the Peninsula, 
amounted to nearly five hundred thousand. 

To oppose this immense force, the Spaniards had but seventy-six thou- 
sand men in a condition to take the field. They were thus divided : 
Palafox, on the right, occupied the country between Saragossa and San- 
guessa, with eighteen thousand ; Castanos, in the centre, was posted 
at Tarazona, with twenty-eight thousand ; and the left, under Blake, 
thirty thousand strong, lay on the rocky mountains near Reynosa. Sir 
John Moore was advancing to unite with the Spanish forces ; and the 
troops under his command, when joined by Sir David Baird's powerful 
reenforcement, would amount to thirty thousand men ; but they were yet 
at a distance from the scene of action, and Napoleon resolved to strike a 
decisive blow before their arrival. Blake, in the meantime, had assumed 
the offensive, and gained some inconsiderable success over detached par- 
ties of the French, which he followed up by capturing Bilboa after one 
day's investment. Encouraged by this, the Spanish general proposed a 
combined attack on the French position ; the nature of the ground, how- 
ever, and the want of discipline among the troops, prevented the several 
divisions from acting in concert, and Castanos, who first reached the 
enemy, was repulsed with loss at Logrono. This check led to dissen- 
sions between the commanders, and Palafox retired toward Saragossa, 
while Blake, who had unexpectedly received a reenforcement that raised 
his numbers to nearly fifty thousand, moved against the French left in 
the Biscayan provinces. His march, however, was disorderly, and the 
divisions of his army so widely separated, that Lefebvre fell on his ad- 
vanced guard, seventeen thousand strong, and totally routed them. 
Blake immediately fell back and concentrated his forces at Espinosa, 
where his numbers, reduced by defeat and disasters, scarcely exceeded 
twenty-five thousand men. Napoleon, who now took the chief direction 
of the French army, ordered Victor with a corps of twenty-five thousand 
strong, to attack Blake in front, while Lefebvre, with fifteen thousand 
troops, marched on his communications in the rear. These movements 
were decisive ; for although the Spanish soldiers in detached squadrons 
fought with great bravery, they were overpowered by the numbers and 
discipline of their assailants, and retreated in the greatest confusion, 
leaving nearly ten thousand men killed, wounded and prisoners, on the 
field. The routed army fled in two diflferent directions ; Romana, with 
nine thousand stragglers made his way into Leon, and Blake, with seven 
thousand sought refuge at Reynosa, and there joined a portion of his re- 
serves. But he was rapidly pursued by Soult, and driven into the Astu- 
rian mountains, after having lost half his men, and all his ammunition 
and artillery. 

Soult next moved against Burgos, where eighteen thousand of the best 
troops in Spain had been hastily assembled under the Count de Belvidere. 
The Spanish soldiers bravely sustained the attack of the French columns 



1808.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 249 

for a short time ; but they soon gave way, leaving behind them twenty-eight 
hundred men and all their artillery and stores. Burgos fell into the hands 
of the French marshal, and, after being abandoned to pillage, became the 
head-quarters of Napoleon, who established himself there on the 12th of 
November. On receiving intelligence of this defeat, Castanos retired to 
Tudela, and formed a junction with Palafox : their united forces amounted 
to forty -three thousand men, with forty pieces of cannon. Marshal Ney 
pursued this army, and attacked its outposts on the 21st. The Spanish 
troops gave way at all points : fifteen thousand men, without artillery or 
ammunition, made their escape with Palafox to Saragossa ; twenty thou- 
sand, under Castanos, retreated on Catalayud ; five thousand were killed, 
wounded or made prisoners, and the remainder fled in total confusion to 
the mountains. 

This cUspersion of the Spanish troops in the north laid open the road to 
Madrid, toward which Napoleon now advanced with the Imperial Guards 
and Victor's corps, amounting in all to sixty thousand men. On the 80th 
of November, he encountered a serious opposition in the pass of Somo- 
Sierra, where twelve thousand Spaniards, Avith sixteen pieces of cannon, 
made a desperate stand, and for a while arrested the march of the whole 
French army. Nothing, however, could resist the enthusiasm of Napo- 
leon's veterans, when fighting under his own eye. By an impetuous 
charge up the rugged ascent of the defile, they carried the Spanish bat- 
teries at the point of the bayonet, dispersed the whole covering force, and 
hastened on to Madrid without further opposition. 

The inhabitants of the Spanish capital were thrown into the utmost 
consternation when they learned that the pass of Somo-Sierra had been 
forced, and that Napoleon's columns were advancing against their de- 
fenceless walls. There were but three hundred regular troops in the 
town, with two battalions of new levies : nevertheless, vigorous prepara- 
tions were made for defence. Eight thousand muskets and a large num- 
ber of pikes were distributed to the people, heavy cannon were planted 
on the Retiro and in the principal streets, the pavements were torn up, 
barricades erected, and the most enthusiastic spirit pervaded the multi- 
tude. On the morning of the 2nd, the advanced guard of the French 
army reached the heights north of Madrid, and Napoleon, who was very 
desirous to gain possession of the Spanish capital on the anniversary of 
his coronation and of the battle of Austerlitz, immediately summoned it 
to surrender ; but the proposal was indignantly rejected. 

During the night, the French infantry arrived in great strength, and 
early on the 3rd, the Emperor directed an assault on the Retiro, the 
heights of which entirely command the city. This important post was 
speedily carried, and as the town became now indefensible in a military 
point of view, a capitulation took place : on the 4th of December, Madrid 
was occupied by the French troops. Napoleon did not himself enter the 
town, but established his head-quarters at Chamartin, where he received 
the submission of the authorities and regulated the affairs of the govern- 
ment. In a short time, everything bore the appearance of peace : the 
theatres were reopened, citizens crowded the public walks, and the trades 
resumed their former activity. By a solemn decree, the Emperor abol- 
ished the Inquisition and appropriated its funds to the reduction of the 
public debt ; and, in general, the measures taken by Napoleon were well 
adapted to secure his own authority and the good will and confidence of 
the inhabitants. 



250 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXIX. 

While the French Emperor was thus engaged in the civil affairs of 
Spain, and was hastening forward his armies for the complete subjugation 
of her provinces, Sir David Baird had landed at Corunna and formed a junc- 
tion with Sir John Moore, and Hope's division had also arrived from the Es- 
curial, so that the British army amounted to nearly thirty thousand men. 
Sir John Moore, as soon as he heard of the surrender of Madrid and the 
great accumulation of force in that quarter, boldly resolved to throw him- 
self on the French line of communication and attack Soult, who at that time 
lay in fancied security with fifteen thousand men in the valley of the Car- 
rion. He accordingly commenced his march on the 11th of December; 
but, prudently considering, that by some unexpected change in the position 
of the French armies he might become involved with forces greatly out- 
numbering his own, he combined with his forward movement the prepara- 
tions for a retreat, and provided magazines for the latter purpose both on the 
route to Lisbon and to Galicia. The English troops proceeded with great 
alacrity toward the promised field of combat, and on their way encoun- 
tered and defeated several detached parties of the enemy : while Soult, 
alarmed at the sudden and near approach of the British, concentrated his 
men along the banJcs of the Carrion in the neighborhood of Saldana, where 
General Moore proposed to attack him on the 23rd. The moment that the 
advance of the British army was known in Madrid, Napoleon recalled 
every division that was moving toward the south, and hurried them by 
forced marches to the support of Marshal Soult. On the 22nd of De- 
cember, he had reached the pass of Guadarama with overwhelming num- 
bers ; on the 26th, his head-quai'ters were at Tordesillas, his cavalry at 
Valladolid, and Marshal Ney at Rio-Seco. Fully anticipating the entire 
destruction of the British army, the Emperor now wrote to Soult, " If the 
English remain another day in their position, they are undone. Should 
they attack you, retire a day's march to the rear : if they retreat, pursue 
them closely." 

But Sir John Moore was as vigilant as his redoubtable antagonist. 
Finding, from the unexpected rapidity of Napoleon's advance, that he 
could not safely I'emain to combat with Soult, he suspended his march on 
the 23rd, and on the 24th commenced his retreat toward Galicia, to the 
infinite mortification of the British soldiers, who were in the highest spirits 
and eager for the contest. On the 26th, Baird's division crossed the Esla, 
while Moore, who remained with the rear-guard to protect the stores and 
baggage in their passage over the bridge of Castro Gonzalo, was threat- 
ened by a body of Ney's horsemen. Lord Paget, however, with two 
squadrons of cavalry, overthrew the French detachment, making a hun- 
dred prisoners, besides killing and wounding a large number. General 
Moore, by a timely retreat, reached Benavente before the enemy, and thus 
preserved his own communications entire. The army remained here for 
two days, reposing from its fatigues ; but the discipline of the men in three 
days of retrograde movement had become seriously impaired. On the 
28th, Moore continued his retreat, having first destroyed the bridge over 
the Esla, the repairing of which detained Bessieres until the 30th, when 
he crossed the river with nine thousand cavalry and followed in pursuit 
of the English columns. Soult at the same time passed the bridge of 
Mansilla, overspread the plains of Leon with his troops, and captured the 
town of that name, which contained a large quantity of military stores 
belonging to the Spanish government. 



1809.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 251 

On the 1st of January, the corps of Soult and Ney, seventy thousand 
strong, were joined at Astorga by the Emperor, who, on the road from 
Benavente to that place, while riding at a full gallop with his advanced 
guard in pursuit of the English troops, was overtaken by a courier with 
dispatches. He instantly dismounted, ordered a bivouac fire to be lighted 
by the roadside, and, seating himself by it on the ground, was soon so lost 
in thought that he became insensible to the snow which fell in thick 
wreaths around him. He had ample subject for meditation : Austria had 
made hostile demonstrations against France and was preparing to take 
the field. He rode on slowly and pensively to Astorga, and remained 
there two days writing innumerable dispatches, and regulating at once 
the pursuit of the English army, the internal affairs of Spain, and the 
organization of the troops of the Rhenish Confederacy. On the 3rd of 
January, he returned to Valladolid and proceeded thence by Burgos and 
Bayonne to Paris, where he arrived on the 23rd. 

The Emperor's withdrawal from Spain made no change in the vigor 
of the French pursuit. Soult, with his own corps, twenty-four thousand 
strong, pressed rapidly forward and constantly harassed the rear of the 
British army, while Ney, moving with still greater celei'ity, threatened its 
flank. Meanwhile, the British rear-guard, commanded by Sir John Moore 
in person, maintained its high character for resolution and discipline ; but 
the remainder of the troops, disgusted and disheartened by a protracted 
retreat through a rough country and in midwinter, broke their ranks, 
refused to obey their officers, and became little better than a horde of 
stragglers more to be dreaded by friends than enemies. In this deplorable 
condition, they reached Lugo late in the evening of the 6th of January. 

Here the British general halted, and in a proclamation issued the fol- 
lowing day, severely rebuked the men for their insubordination, and 
announced his intention to give battle to the French. Instantly, and as 
if by enchantment, the disorder of the troops was at an end. The strag- 
glers returned to their ranks, with their arms cleaned, their faces joyful 
and their confidence restored : before the morning of the 8th, nineteen 
thousand men stood in battle array, impatiently awaiting the attack of the 
enemy. But Soult declined the combat, though his army amounted to 
twenty-one thousand men, with fifty pieces of artillery in line. Neverthe- 
less, Moore had gained the advantage of reorganizing his troops, and was 
in much better condition than before for continuing his retreat. During 
the night, he broke up from his position, and moved on toward Corunna, 
where he arrived on the 11th of January. As the troops successively 
reached the heights whence the sea became visible, all eyes turned anx- 
iously toward the bay, in hopes that the vessels for their transportation 
might be awaiting them there ; but the vast expanse was vacant, and a 
few coasters and fishing-boats, alone could be descried on the dreary 
main. There was now, therefore, no alternative but a battle : the sea 
was in front, the enemy in the rear, and a victory was indispensable to 
secure the means of embarkation. The troops accordingly made great 
efforts to strengthen the land-defences, which, though regular, were vei*y 
weak ; and the inhabitants of the town assisted in this laborious duty. 
On the 14th, the transports from Vigo hove in sight, and stood into the 
bay, when the embarkation of the sick and wounded was immediately 
commenced. The greater part of the artillery was next put on board ; 
for, during all the confusion of the retreat, not one gun had been lost. 



252 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXIX. 

While these movements were in progress at the shore of the bay, the 
effective portion of the British army, still fourteen thousand strong, was 
drawn up with great care by Sir John Moore, on a range of heights, or 
rather, of knolls, which form a sort of amphitheatre around the village of 
Elvina, at the distance of rather more than a mile from Corunna. The 
French, twenty thousand strong, were posted on a higher semi-circular 
ridge, distant about one mile from the English position. 

From the inactivity of the French troops during the 14th and 15th, 
General Moore was led to believe that they had no serious intention of 
disquieting his retreat, and he made preparations for withdrawing his army 
into the town on the night of the 16th, in order to embark on board of the 
transports. About noon on that day, however, a general movement was 
seen along the French lines, and at two o'clock, their infantry in four 
massy columns descended to the attack. Notwithstanding their inferi- 
ority of numbers, the British soldiers stood to their arms with the most in- 
vincible resolution, yielding, at intervals, to the pressure of the French 
columns, but eventually repelling every assault, with great loss to the 
enemy. At the moment when they had forced back the French centre 
from Elvina, at the point of the bayonet. Sir John Moore was struck down 
by a cannon-shot, and Sir David Baird, also desperately wounded, was 
borne senseless from the field. The battle still raged, however, and the 
French were fast giving ground, when the sudden approach of night put 
an end to the strife, and saved them from destruction. General Hope, on 
whom the command of the British army devolved, conceiving that its safe 
embarkation was now of more consequence than following up the victory, 
withdrew into the town, and the troops were put on board the vessels 
without confusion or delay. 

After Sir John Moore had received his death-wound, he remained for a 
time sitting on the ground and watching the progress of the British charge ; 
when he saw that it was successful, and the victory secure, he reluctantly 
allowed himself to be conveyed to the rear. As the soldiers placed him on 
a blanket to carry him from the field, the hilt of his sword became en- 
tangled in the wound, and Captain Hardinge attempted to take it off; but 
the dying hero said, " It is well as it is : I would rather it should go from 
the field with me." The examination of the wound at his lodgings, shut 
out all hope of his recovery, but did not affect his serenity of mind. He 
continued to converse in a calm and cheerful voice until a few moments 
before his death, and when that event took place, he was wrapped in his 
military cloak and laid in a grave hastily dug on the ramparts of Corunna. 
A monument was soon after erected over his uncoffined remains by the 
generosity of Marshal Ney. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

FIRST CAMPAIGN OF 1809 IN GERMANY. 

Austria had improved to the utmost the interval of peace that fol- 
lowed the treaty of Presburg, and by an energetic policy, patiently and 
silently pursued, had raised her war establishment to a formidable con- 
dition. Napoleon was fully aware of her movements, and more than 
once remonstrated against them, on the ground that they were dangerous 
to the peace of Europe ; and in reply, the cabinet of Vienna alleged 
that their measures were merely precautionary and defensive, v/hile, at 
the same time, they were careful not to relax one moment in their efforts. 
Although Napoleon was not deceived as to Austria's intentions, yet, while 
occupied in the affairs of the Peninsula, her assumption of hostilities took 
him by surprise, and it became necessary for him to make extraordinary 
exertions in order to commence the campaign on a footing of equality 
with his antagonist : indeed, had Austria pressed her offensive operations 
with the same vigor as she manifested in preparing for them, she must 
have gained important victories before Napoleon could bring his best 
troops into the field ; for the flower of the French army was in Spain, and 
the forces that he retained in Germany, though powerful in the aggregate, 
were as yet scattered in detached masses, from the Alps to the Baltic, 
offering an easy triumph to a concentrated and active foe. But it was 
not the fate or fortune of Austria to reap advantage from rapid military 
evolutions. 

The plan of Napoleon, was at the outset strictly defensive, in order to 
gain time for assembling his scattered forces into effective masses ; and as 
he deemed it unfitting that he should be at the head of his army before it 
was prepared for decisive blows, Berthier was dispatched, early in April, 
to assume the chief command. 

On the 17th of March, Austria had mustered a hundred and forty thou- 
sand men on the two banks of the Danube, within eight days' march of 
Ratisbon : on the same day, Davoust quitted his cantonments on the Oder 
and Lower Elbe, in the north part of Germany ; Massena was yet on the 
Rhine, the Bavarians on the Iser, and Oudinot alone at Augsburg. The 
French corps could, therefore, have been easily cut off from each other, 
and beaten in detail, by a rapid advance of the Imperialists toward Man- 
heim ; but the execution of such a design required an alacrity and vigor 
practically unknown to the Austrians, who, by hesitating until the French 
troops were concentrated on the Danube, lost the great advantage of their 
central position in Bohemia. And when, at last, it was resolved to attack 
the enemy in Bavaria, the Aulic Council, instead of permitting the Arch- 
duke Charles to fall perpendicularly on the French corps scattered to the 
south, along the valley of the Danube, ordered him to counter-march the 
great body of his men, and open the campaign on the Inn : a gratuitous 
and egregious error, which forced his army to march thrice the necessary 
distance, and gave the enemy a proportionably increased time to collect 
their forces to resist him. This toilsome and useless march was, how- 
ever, at length completed ; the Austrian columns, after moving a hundred 



254 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXX. 

miles back toward Vienna, and crossing the Danube, were arrayed on the 
right bank of the Inn, on the 10th of April; and the Archduke prepared 
to carry the war into the vast level plains which stretch from the southern 
banks of the Danube to the foot of the Alps. 

The instructions of Napoleon to Berthier, were clear and precise : if 
the Austrians commenced their attack before the 15th of April, he was to 
concentrate his army on the Lech, around Donauwerth ; if after that 
date, at Ratisbon, guarding the right bank of the Danube from that place 
to Passau. But on the 12th of April, by means of the telegraph which 
he had established in Central Germany, the Emperor was apprised at 
Paris of the Archduke's crossing the Inn. He immediately left the capi- 
tal for the seat of war, where he arrived on the 17th of April ; and in the 
meantime, the immense forces converging from the mountains of Galicia 
and the banks of the Oder to the valley of the Danube, had gradually 
reached the frontiers of Germany. 

It was high time for him to take the command ; for, great as were the 
faults of the Austrian movements, Berthier had nevertheless brought the 
French forces to the verge of destruction. Instead of concentrating them 
at Ratisbon or Donauwerth, he dispersed them, despite the remonstrances 
of Davoust and Massena, with the insane purpose of stopping at all points 
the advance of the Austrians ; and nothing but the tardy march of the 
latter saved the French from serious disasters. The Archduke crossed 
the Inn on the 10th, at Braunau, and on the 16th, he had barely reached 
the Iser, a distance of only twenty leagues. On the same day, however, 
he attacked Landshut, and compelled General Deroy, who commanded 
the Bavarian garrison, to evacuate the town ; and as the line of the Iser 
was thus abandoned, he crossed the river and moved by the great road of 
Nuremberg, toward the bridges of Ratisbon, Neustadt and Kellheim, in 
order to secure both banks of the Danube. Yet even then, when the 
Austrians were greatly superior to the enemy's forces on any one point, 
they marched at the rate of but three leagues a day. Nevertheless, the 
approach of a hundred and twenty thousand Austrians, even though 
moving at a snail's pace, threw Berthier into the greatest consternation. 
Contrary to the urgent entreaties of his generals, he compelled Davoust 
to strengthen himself at Ratisbon, and ordered Massena to defend the line 
of the Lech ; at the same time he directed Lefebvre, Wrede and Oudinot, 
to place their several corps in three lines, one behind another, across Ba- 
varia — a position so useless and absurd, that more than one of the mar- 
shals ascribed his conduct to treachery, although that charge is certainly 
without foundation. The result of these joint movements was, that Da- 
voust, with sixty thousand men, became gradually hemmed in at Ratisbon 
by the Archduke's army, a hundred and twenty thousand strong ; and as 
the orders he received from Berthier compelled him to remain there, like 
a tiger at bay, no other fate seemed to await him than the disaster which, 
four years previously, befell Mack at Ulm. 

Matters were in this critical state when Napoleon arrived at Donau- 
werth. Having fully informed himself of what had taken place, he dis- 
patched the most pressing orders to Massena to hasten, at least with his 
advanced guard and cavalry, to Plaifenhofen, a considerable town be- 
tween Augsburg and Neustadt. He also commanded Davoust to march 
in the direction of Neustadt and form a junction with Lefebvre. It may 
be presumed that these orders were promptly obeyed, although it was 



1809.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 255 

impossible for the two marshals to reach the points designated, before the 
19th of April. On the 17th, the Archduke detached fifteen thousand men 
under the Archduke Louis, to watch the troops of the Confederacy on the 
Abeas, -while he himself marched with the main strength of his army 
toward Ratisbon, to gain possession of the bridge at that place, and, by 
thus securing the command of both banks of the Danube, open a free 
communication with the two corps, under Klenau, on the opposite side of 
the river. The Archduke's light cavalry which, under Hohenzollern, 
had been pushed out on the left to cover the flank of the columns pro- 
ceeding to Ratisbon, reached Thaun on the 19th, and there unexpectedly 
encountered St. Hilaire and Fi'iant, who were covering Davoust's march 
through the defile of Portsaal. The two parties simultaneously attacked 
each other, and as fresh troops successively came on to the assistance of 
their comrades, no less than twenty thousand men, in the aggregate, were 
engaged before nightfall. A violent thunder storm finally separated the 
combatants, after each side had sustained a loss of three thousand men. 

As soon as the two corps of Davoust and Lefebvre were united, Napo- 
leon resolved to assume a vigorous offensive, for which, indeed, the rela- 
tive position of the armies now presented a tempting opportunity. By 
extraordinary exertions, he had brought sixty-five thousand men into one 
mass, on the flank of fifty thousand Austrians, who, in four detached corps 
under officers acting independently of each other, were scattered over 
several leagues of country, and leisurely moving toward a common cen- 
tre, where they anticipated a junction with the Archduke and a pitched 
battle. Napoleon ordered an immediate and simultaneous attack on these 
divisions, commanded, severally, by the Archduke Louis, the Prince of 
Reuss, Hiller and Thierry ; and they were so taken by surprise at the 
unexpected assault, that they fled on the first charge. Instead of a 
regular action, a running fight took place, which continued through the 
day, and ended in a loss to the Austrians of eight thousand men. Yet, 
notwithstanding this precipitate retreat, they evinced their high discipline, 
by maintaining their ranks and keeping possession of every .piece of their 
artillery. 

On the same day that this action took place, April 20th, the Archduke 
pressed his attack upon Ratisbon. That town, commanding the only 
stone bridge over the Danube below Ulm, was at all times a point of con- 
sequence, and was now eminently so from the position of the Austrian 
forces. The assault was made on two sides of the town at once ; and 
although the slender garrison of three thousand men left by Davoust, de- 
fended themselves bravely for a time ; they were forced to yield to the 
great preponderance of numbers, and surrendered at discretion. 

After the defeat of the four Austrian divisions, Napoleon proposed to 
throw himself on the communications of the Archduke ; but, to conceal 
his movements, he sent Davoust against Ratisbon, with a force sufficient 
to command the Archduke's notice, while he in person pushed forward 
toward Landshut, whither the columns of Hiller and the Archduke Louis 
were retreating. He overtook these troops on the 21st, routed and drove 
them through Landshut, made himself master of that town, and inflicted 
a loss on the Austrians of nearly six thousand men, of whom the greater 
part were prisoners, together with twenty-five pieces of cannon, and a 
large quantity of baggage and ammunition. Davoust, in the meantime, 
had made his demonstration against the Archduke at Ratisbon, where a 



256 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXX. 

serious action ensued, and each party suffered a loss of nearly three 
thousand men; the battle was terminated by the approach of night, and 
both armies remained on the field ; but as Davoust had accomplished his 
purpose of diverting the Archduke's attention from Napoleon's movement, 
he with reason claimed the advantages of a victory. 

As a general action between the Archduke and Napoleon now became 
inevitable, both commandei-s prepared themselves for the contest ; but there 
was this essential difference in their respective arrangements : Napoleon 
concentrated his troops into one mass ; while the Archduke, ignorant of 
the numbers opposed to him, divided his army into two equal corps, dis- 
patched one of them under Kollowrath and Lichtenstein, on the road to 
Echmul, and himself retained command of the other in front of Ratisbon. 
Thus one half of his army, forty thousand strong, led by Kollowrath and 
Lichtenstein, was to contend with more than seventy-five thousand 
French troops, flushed with victory, and animated by the Emperor's 
presence. 

The battle commenced at noonday, on the 22nd of April, by an attack 
on the Austrian left wing, followed by a movement against the centre, at 
Echmul. The charge on the left was successful, and that portion of the 
Imperialist army fell back with severe loss and some confusion ; but the 
centre stood firm in spite of every effort of Napoleon, until a division of 
reserve, taking advantage of the discomfiture of the left wing, assailed it 
in flank, when it retired in good order. The Austrian right had, in the 
meantime, held its ground, though assailed by superior numbers both in 
front and rear ; but when, by the defeat of the centre and left, the whole 
French line was enabled to act against this remaining division, it also 
gave way and joined the retreat toward Ratisbon. The Archduke now 
endeavored to protect the army, which his imprudence had exposed to 
such disaster ; and, pressing forward his cuirassiers, interposed a pow- 
erful barrier between his own troops and the pursuing columns of the 
enemy. The French light-horse were quickly dispersed ; but Napo- 
leon's cuirassiers soon came up, and the two rival divisions, equally 
brave and equally disciplined, engaged in mortal combat. So vehement 
was their onset, and so nearly matched was the strength of the combat- 
ants, both armies, as if by mutual consent, suspended their fire to await 
its issue : the roar of musketry subsided, the heavy booming of the artil- 
lery ceased, and from the melee no sound was heard but the clang of sa- 
bres, ringing on the helmets and breast-plates of this redoubtable cavalry ; 
and when the sun went down, the darkness was illumined by the myriads 
of sparks that flew from their swords and armor. Victory at length de- 
clared in favor of the French, and the Austrian cuirassiers, after leaving 
two-thirds of their number on the field, retreated to Ratisbon. But their 
heroic efforts, however fatal to themselves, saved the Austrian army. 
Durincr the engagement, the artillery and infantry withdrew unmolested 
to the rear, and Napoleon, fearful of falling into some disaster by a fur- 
ther pursuit in the night, reluctantly gave orders to the army to halt and 
bivouac on the ground they occupied. 

The situation of the Archduke became now very critical : he was 
threatened in front by the victorious army of Napoleon, and the Danube, 
traversed by a single bridge, lay in his rear. The arrival of reenforce- 
ments had raised his numbers to eighty thousand men ; but he feared to 
hazard another battle in such anosition, as, in case of disaster, he had no 



1809.] HISTORY OFEUROPE. 357 

means of retreat. He had lost five thousand men in killed and wounded 
and seven thousand prisoners, in the battle of Echmul, besides twelve 
standards and sixteen pieces of cannon ; and although Lichtenstein's 
corps more than replaced those losses, the spirits of his whole army were 
depressed by reverses and fatigue. Besides, the French guards under 
Oudinot, had just arrived from Spain, and Massena's corps, which had not 
yet been engaged at all, would come into action with the efficiency of 
fi'esh troops. Influenced by these circumstances, he resolved to retire 
immediately, and restore the courage and discipline of his men by 
repose in Bohemia, before again undertaking active operations. He 
threw a bridge of boats over the Danube, and by that and the bridge of 
Ratisbon, the troops defiled without intermission, through the whole night. 
This movement was executed with such expedition and order, that before 
nine o'clock, on the following morning, not only the great body of the 
soldiers, but all the guns, baggage and ammunition wagons were safely 
disposed on the opposite side of the river. 

As soon as Napoleon discovered that the Austrians had escaped him, 
he ordered a violent attack on their rear-guard, which had now retired 
within the walls of Ratisbon, closed the gates and manned the ramparts 
to check his pursuit. He himself reached the scene of action at noon, 
and, in his anxiety to press the assault, approached so near the town that 
a musket ball struck him on the foot. The pain occasioned by the shot 
forced him to dismount ; and for the moment, a belief that he was danger- 
ously wounded, created some confusion in the ranks ; but after his foot 
had been hastily dressed, he mounted his horse again, and the soldiers 
with loud cheers returned to the attack. The defences of the town could 
not long withstand the whole French army, and Ratisbon soon fell into 
their hands ; but the steadiness of the Hungarian grenadiers and artillery 
resisted every attempt to cross the bridge, and the French head-quarters 
were for the night established under the walls at the convent of Prull. 

Twelve days only had elapsed, since Napoleon left Paris ; yet within 
that time, he had reassembled his army from its imprudent dispersion by 
Berthier, fought the Austrians in several battles, separated Hiller and the 
Archduke Louis from the Archduke Charles, thrown the two former back 
on the Inn, but with forces too inconsiderable to cover Vienna, and driven 
the latter to a retreat toward the Bohemian mountains. Thirty thousand 
Austrians had fallen or been made prisoners in the various engagements; 
a hundred pieces of cannon, six hundred ammunition wagons, and an im- 
mense quantity of baggage had been taken, and the road to Vienna now 
lay open to the conqueror. The losses of the French amounted to twenty 
thousand men. 

Yet, although these brilliant triumphs attended the arms. of Napoleon, 
where he commanded in person, the war assumed a different aspect in 
other quarters ; and it already became manifest, that the invincible vete- 
rans of the Republic were wearing out, and that the conscripts of the 
Empire were in no respect superior to the improved and invigorated 
troops opposed to them. Hiller, who had retired to the Inn after the dis- 
aster of Landshut, finding that he was not pressed by the French, but 
that Napoleon had moved in another direction, determined to take ven- 
geance on the Bavarians, by whom he had been somewhat incautiously 
pursued. He therefore turned upon a corps of those troops under 
Wrede, who, with the French reserve of Bessieres, were advancing be- 



258 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXX. 

yond the defile of Neumarck, and had taken post on the heights of St. 
Verti. The Bavarians at first made a stout resistance, but they were 
soon overpowered, and though Molitor came up to their support with some 
regiments of the Imperial Guard, he, too, was compelled to retreat with 
considerable loss. 

A more serious disaster about the same time befell the Viceroy Eu- 
gene Beauharnois, on the plains of Italy, where the Archduke John 
moved against him with forty-eight thousand men. His own forces, en- 
camped at Sacile, did not exceed forty-five thousand. The Archduke 
commenced the attack at noon, on the 16th of April ; and after the action 
had been inaintained for some hours with nearly equal fortune, Eugene's 
troops fell into confusion, broke their ranks, and fled in the greatest dis- 
order toward the Adige : but for the intervention of night his whole army 
would have been destroyed. His loss was eight thousand men, in killed, 
wounded, and prisoners, besides fifteen pieces of cannon ; while the Aus- 
trians' killed and wounded was something less than four thousand. 

The Archduke Charles, finding that Napoleon was resolved to push 
forward to Vienna, ordered Hiller to retard the advance by all possible 
means, recalled the Archduke John from Italy, and himself formed a 
junction with Bellegarde. The French Emperor arrived at Braunau on 
the 1st of May, and hastened to the utmost the mai'ch of his troops, while 
Hiller took post at Ebersberg to defend the passage of the Traun, and 
cover the wooden bridge at Mauthausen. When the French reached the 
left bank of the Traun, beyond Scharlentz and in front of Ebersberg, 
they found their progress arrested by the most formidable obstacles. 
Before them lay the bed of the impetuous Traun, nearly eight hundred 
yards broad, intersected by sand-banks and islands, and traversed by a 
causeway terminating in a bridge three hundred yards long, over the 
largest arm of the river. The bridge, closed at its western extremity by 
the gate of Ebersberg, was commanded by musketeers posted in the 
houses of the town, and by an array of artillery disposed on the adjoining 
heights. The hills next the river were covered with mfantry, interspersed 
with powerful batteries ; and beyond these rose a more elevated range of 
heights, clothed with pines and traversed by a single road. 

It required no ordinary resolution, to attack thirty-five thousand men 
in such a position supported by eighty pieces of cannon ; but Massena, 
who led the advanced guai-d of the army, and burned with a desire to 
illustrate his name by some brilliant exploit in a campaign where hith- 
erto he had lacked opportunity to distinguish himself, resolved to hazard 
an assault. He at first drove in the Austrian outposts on the right bank, 
without much difficulty ; but when his columns reached the long bridge, 
they were swept down by such a storm of musket balls and grape shot, 
that they fell back in dismay. General Cohorn immediately led a column 
of fresh troops to the head of the bridge ; and although these, in turn, 
were struck down by hundreds, they still advanced with desperate reso- 
lution up to the gate of Ebersberg, where they were nearly all destroyed. 
Nevertheless, as the passage was thus shown to be practicable, though 
at a ruinous loss, Massena pushed forward column after column to the 
scene of slaughter ; the gate was assailed by troops who seemed utterly 
reckless of life, and in the mean time, a powerful detachment had pressed 
around to the rear of the town. The gate was speedily forced, the batte- 
ries silenced, and the town taken ; while Hiller, yielding at first to the irre- 



1809.1 HISTORYOFEUROPE. 259 

sistible valor, and afterward to the overwhelming numbers of the whole 
French army, retired in good order, disputing every foot of ground, until 
the approach of night brought the battle to a close. He then withdrew 
to Enns, burned the bridge of the river of that name, and retreated to- 
ward Amstetten. In this terrible conflict few trophies remained to the 
victors; they capturfed four guns and two standards, and the loss in 
killed and wounded on each side, amounted to six thousand men. 

As Hiller was unable after this defeat to resist the French advance, 
he continued his retreat to the neighborhood of Vienna ; while Napoleon, 
uninformed of the Archduke's movements and fearful of penetrating into 
the country without knowing the position of his principal antagonist, 
halted for two days at Enns, where he reestablished the bridge, and col- 
lected a number of boats, which he already foresaw would be required for 
crossing the Danube in front of the capital. On the 8th of May, he re- 
sumed his march, and on the 10th, the French eagles with the leading 
columns of the army appeared before the waJls of Vienna. For a time, 
the Archduke Maximilian, who had command of the city, thought of 
attempting its defence ; but the project was soon abandoned, and he with- 
drew his troops to the north across the bridge of Thabor, which he after- 
ward burned. As, however, the town made a show of resistance. Napo- 
leon ordered a bombardment to be commenced, when General O'Reilly 
sent proposals for a capitulation. The terms were soon arranged, and 
were ratified on the morning of the 13th of May. The security of pri- 
vate property of every description was guarantied, and the arsenal with 
all the public stores were surrendered to the victors. 

The French troops took possession of the gates at noonday, on the 
13th; and at that time the positions of several corps of the army were as 
follows: the corps of Lannes, with four divisions of cuirassiers of the 
reserve cavalry, and all the Imperial Guard, was stationed at Vienna; 
Massena lay between Vienna and the Simmering, his advanced posts 
occupying the Prater and watching the banks of the Danube ; Davoust 
was advancing in echelon, along the margin of that river, between Ebers- 
berg and St. Polten, having his head-quarters at Melk ; Vandamme, with 
the Wirtemberg troops, guarded the bridge of Lintz ; and Bernadotte, 
with the Saxons and other troops of the Confederation, about thirty 
thousand strong, had arrived at Passau, and was moving on to form the 
reserve of the army, which, independently of his forces and those of Le- 
febvre in the Tyrol, numbered a hundred thousand men. 

While such was the posture of affairs in the vicinity of the Austrian 
capital, the Archduke Charles was making his way toward the same 
quarter, but with a tardiness which, to this day, remains wholly unex- 
plained. After learning Napoleon's march toward Vienna, he moved 
upon Budweiss, forty leagues northwest of the capital, and arrived there 
on the 3rd of May ; on the 4th, he received intelligence of Killer's defeat 
at Ebersberg, which left the road open for the French advance ; and yet 
he remained totally inactive at Budweiss for three days. At length, on 
the morning of the 8th, he marched to intercept the progress of the in- 
vaders ; but his previous delay rendered his present haste unavailing, 
and with the utmost efforts, his advanced guard could not reach Killer's 
position until the evening of the 15th, when Napoleon was securely estab- 
lished in Vienna. 

On the 29th of April, the Archduke John, in conformity to the orders 
J2 



260 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXX. 

he had received, broke up from his position on the Adige, to unite with 
the Austrian grand army for the defence of the capital. But he was so 
warmly pursued by Eugene Beauharnois, and conducted his retreat so in- 
differently, that the viceroy was enabled to cut off a large portion of his 
troops, take his artillery, and capture a number of important fortresses 
on the route ; in addition to which disasters, he was eventually forced 
into the plains of Hungary, and thereby prevented from taking any im- 
mediate part in the important events about to occur near Vienna. 

The eyes of all Europe were now turned to the banks of the Danube, 
near Vienna, where two armies, each a hundred thousand strong, pre- 
pared for a deadly, and, to all appearance, a final conflict. The Danube, 
as it approaches the Austrian capital, swells into a wide expanse, and em- 
braces several islands in its course : some of these are large and highly 
cultivated, but the greater part are small and covered with woods. The 
island of Prater, with its beautiful shady avenues and recesses, and that 
of Lobau, with its rich inclosures, are the most considerable : the latter 
is nearly three miles in length, by two in breadth, and the space between 
it and the southern bank of the stream, is studded by several smaller 
islands. It was at this point that Napoleon resolved to force a passage 
across the Danube, and the whole army was occupied for some days in 
the undertaking : at length, everything being in readiness, a strong de- 
tachment embarked in boats and effected a landing at Lobau. The 
troops now readily established a bridge from the southern shore to that 
island ; they next threw a pontoon train across to the northern bank, and 
on the morning of the 21st, forty thousand men had defiled to the oppo- 
site side of the river, and established themselves in front of the Austrian 
position. 

The Archduke Charles had, in the meantime, remained with the 
greater part of his army on the heights of Bisamberg, carefully observ- 
ing the French movements, and offering no obstacle to their progress ; but 
resolved, the moment a sufficient number should have crossed the river 
and become temporarily separated from the support of the main army, to 
fall upon them with his whole force. He also sent instructions to Kol- 
lowrath, Nordman, and other officers in command farther up the river, 
to collect boats with combustible materials, and float them down to de- 
stroy the enemy's bridge. At twelve o'clock, on the 21st, he gave the 
signal to advance, and his troops, with loud shouts, rushed from their ele- 
vated encampment toward the French position. 

The termination of the pontoon bridge rested on the plain of Marchfield, 
and on either side of this open space were the two villages of Aspern and 
Essling, each distant half a mile from the river. The houses of these 
villages were built of stone, chiefly two stories in height, and surrounded 
by inclosures and garden walls, so that they were capable of an obsti- 
nate defence. 

Aspern, into which Massena had not with sufficient promptitude thrown 
an adequate garrison, was at first carried by Hiller's advanced guard ; 
but Molitor came up with his whole division and not only retook it, but 
pursued the Austrian detachment, until the advance of Hohenzollern 
drove him in turn back to the village; and as Hiller's column rapidly 
followed on, a desperate combat ensued there. The Austrian infantry, 
the Hungarian grenadiers, and the volunteer corps of Vienna, strove to 
outdo each other in feats of daring aiid valoj; while the several divis- 



1809.] HISTORY OFEUROPE. 261 

ions of Massena's corps, fighting under the veteran marshal's eye, bravely- 
sustained every attack, and from the streets, gardens, windows and house- 
tops, kept up a murderous fire on their assailants. Hour after hour the 
battle raged, and when the sun went down, the scene of strife was illu- 
minated by the burning houses: at eleven o'clock, the Austrians finally 
prevailed, and the village remained in their hands for the night. 

The plain between Aspern and Essling, had also been the scene of a 
desperate battle. The Austrian artillery were posted in great strength 
in this open field, and the French columns were so galled on all sides 
by their tremendous fire, that Napoleon ordered a general charge of 
cavalry tg dislodge them. The light-horse of the Guard first undertook 
this service, but they were easily repulsed. The cuirassiers followed 
next, but the Hungarian grenadiers formed squares around the guns, and 
by their sustained volleys of musketry, stretched nearly one half of those 
terrible cavaliers on the plain. 

The attack on Essling, though not less bloody than the battle in the 
other parts of the field, was more successfully resisted, and at nightfall 
the village remained in possession of the French troops. 

The night was consumed in the most strenuous efforts on both sides to 
repair their losses, by bringing forward reenforcements ; and as soon as 
the first gray of the summer's dawn shed a doubtful light over the field 
on the 22nd, the Austrian columns under Rosenberg renewed the attack 
on Essling, and at the same time, Massena came forward in force to 
reconquer Aspern. Both assaults were attended with varied success. 
Aspern yielded to the impetuosity of Massena's charge, while the Arch- 
duke's grenadiers carried Essling at the point of the bayonet, and forced 
the enemy back almost to the banks of the Danube. The battle raged 
with the utmost fury during the v/hole day ; Essling was at length retaken 
by the French, and Aspern, after having been captured and "recaptured 
three several times, remained in the hands of the Austrians. 

In the meantime Napoleon, resolved to bring this murderous contest to 
a conclusion, ordered an attack on the Austrian centre in the plain of 
Marchfield. The whole corps of Lannes and Oudinot, together with the 
cuirassiers and the Imperial Guard in reserve, moved forward in echelon, 
preceded by a powerful train of artillery, and fell with irresistible weight 
on the Austrian line. The dense columns of Lannes pressed through the 
ranks of their opponents and threw some battalions into confusion, while 
the cuirassiers, rushing on with loud shouts, threatened to disorder the 
whole Imperialist army. But at this critical moment, the Archduke 
proved himself equal to the emergency. He directed the reserve gren- 
adiers, under the prince of Reuss, to be formed in squares, and the 
dragoons of Lichtenstein to take post behind them; and then, seizing 
with his own hand the standard of Zach's corps, which was beginning to 
falter, he addressed a few energetic words to the men and led them back 
to the charge. The soldiers, thus reanimated, held their ground; the 
column of Lannes was arrested, and the squares among which it had pen- 
etrated, poured in upon it destructive volleys from all sides, while the 
Austrian batteries, playing at half musket shot, caused a frightful carnage 
in the deep masses of the French troops. The cuirassiers made desperate 
efforts to retrieve the day, but their squadrons were decimated by mus- 
ketry, and at length driven off the field by an impetuous charge of 
Lichtenstein's dragoons. 
J3 



262 HISTORY OFEURO P. E. [Chap. XXX. 

Hohenzollern now rushed forward, and with a powerful division as- 
sailed the flank of the French columns, which, wholly unable to resist 
this fresh attack, fell backward in the direction of Essling: at the same 
time, intelligence spread through the ranks of both armies, that the flo- 
tilla directed against the bridge had destroyed that portion of it which 
connected the island of Lobau with the southern bank of the river, thus 
cutting off the French army from its supplies and reserves. At this 
terrible crisis. Napoleon's courage did not forsake him. He immediately 
ordered a retreat over the remainder of the bridge, reaching from the 
northern bank to Lobau, and pushed forward the troops that had been 
least engaged to hold the Austrians in check during this perilous manoeu- 
vre. As the French now fought not to conquer, but to escape their 
enemies, the Archduke was enabled to turn his advantages of position to 
the best account, and press, with his whole reserve, on the retiring and 
discouraged columns of Napoleon. He brought forward all his artillery, 
and, by disposing the guns in a semicircular line, concentrated their iron 
storm on the narrow line of retreat, so that the slaughter became terrific; 
and, at the same time, his grenadiers and cavalry, by repeated charges 
on the indomitable rear-guard, rapidly diminished the numbers, though 
they could not disorder the ranks of those dauntless veterans. During 
this scene of carnage, Lannes and St. Hilaire were both mortally 
wounded. The fire of the Austrian batteries was maintained until past 
midnight, when the last of the French troops defiled over the bridge, fol- 
lowed by the remnants of the invincible rear-guard ; and the Archduke's 
soldiers, exhausted with fatigue, sunk to sleep on the ground beside 
their guns. 

In this memorable battle of Aspern, the first great action in which 
Napoleon had been entirely defeated, the French loss exceeded thirty 
thousand men, and that of the Austrians was something more than twenty 
thousand ; but few guns or prisoners were taken on either side. The 
Austrians were for several days occupied in burying the dead, and the 
waters of the Danube were for an equal length of time polluted with 
the floating corses of the combatants. 

The situation of the French troops on the island of Lobau, during the 
night of the 22nd, was truly deplorable. Cut off" from retreat and from 
their communications by the destruction of the bridge, menaced by a 
victorious enemy, destitute of ammunition and provisions, and threatened 
with an inundation by the fast rising waters of the Danube — an escape by 
boats to the southern bank, together with an abandonment of all the 
wounded, the artillery and the horses, seemed at first to be the only 
alternative. But, although this measure was apparently inevitable, and 
as such was strenuously urged by Massena, Davoust, Berthier and 
Oudinot, Napoleon determined to remain and convert the island into an 
impregnable fortress, whence he could subsequently strike a fatal blow 
at the Austrian army. 

In pursuance of this plan, a large number of boats from the southern 
shore were put in requisition ; troops, ammunition and provisions were 
brought across to Lobau, fortifications on a gigantic scale were projected, 
and, in one month, not only were the works on the island capable of 
resisting any attack from the enemy, but three solid bridges connected 
the fortress ^ith the south bank of the Danube, and rendered the com- 
munication perfect and easy between them. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

FROM THE CAMPAIGN OF WAGRAM TO THE DETHRONEMENT OF THE POPE. 

While Napoleon, stronj^ly fortified in his position on the island of 
Lobau, was, by hostile demonstrations, leading the Austrians to believe 
that he intended to renew the attack on Aspern, he was in fact secretly 
preparing to cross the river at a lower point, where the passage was less 
cautiously guarded, and whence he could, with little opposition, fall sud- 
denly on the flank and rear of the Austrian encampment. In the mean- 
time, the Archduke Charles, to resist the assault which he supposed was 
to be made on Aspern, erected a vast line of intrenchments, running from 
that village across the late battle-field, through Essling, and terminating 
on the bank of the Danube. These works consisted of field redoubts and 
ravelins united by a curtain, strengthened along their front by palisades, 
and armed with a hundred and fifty pieces of heavy artillery. 

Behind this formidable barrier, the Austrian commander awaited Na- 
poleon's movements, and at the same time, made great exertions to recruit 
the numbers and condition of his army. By the end of June, nearly a 
hundred and forty thousand men, with seven hundred pieces of cannon, 
were assembled under his orders, though not yet concentrated to act upon 
one field: the Prince of Reuss guarded the line of the Danube from 
Stockerau to Vienna, having his head-quarters at Stammersdorf ; Kol- 
lowrath lay at Hagenbrunn, on the northwestern slope of the Bisamberg ; 
the reserve of grenadiers were posted at Gerarsdorf ; Klenau occupied 
the intrenchments opposite the bridge at Aspern ; Nordman, with the 
advanced guard, at Enzersdorf, watched the course of the Danube as far 
as Presburg; Bellegarde, Hohenzollern and Rosenberg were at Wagram 
and along the bank of the Russbach ; and the reserve cavalry awaited 
orders at Breitenlee, Aderklaa, and the villages in that neighborhood. 
Thus, the Archduke's army formed two lines: the first stretching twenty 
leagues along the course of the Danube ; the second, two leagues in the 
rear, resting on the plateau of Wagram and the heights of the Russbach. 
The Archduke John lay at Presburg, ten leagues from Wagram, with 
forty thousand men, whose numbers are not included in the preceding 
estimate of the Austrian forces; and, with a view to "bring him into com- 
munication with the grand army for a general action, which was now 
seen to be at hand, the Archduke Charles dispatched a courier to Pres- 
burg on the evening of July 4th, urging him to press on by a forced 
march toward Aspern. 

On the 2nd of July^ Napoleon, who had remained for a time at Schoen- 
brunn, rode to Lobau and there established his head-quarters. On the 
same day, his reenforcements began to arrive. First, came Bernadotte 
with the Saxons from the bank of the Elbe; then, Vandamme came 
with the Wirtembergers and troops of the Confederation from Swabia 
and the Rhenish provinces; after him, followed Wrede with the Bava- 
rians from the Lech, Macdonald and Broussier from Carinthi^ and 
Carniola, Marmont from Dalmatia, and Eugene Beauharnois from Hun- 
gary. By the evening of the 4th, their numbers amounted to no less 



264 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXI. 

than a hundred and eighty thousand men, with seven hundred and fifty- 
pieces of cannon, concentrated in one mass, commanded by one general- 
in-chief, and prepared to act in concert on a single field of battle. 

As soon as the junction of the several corps was completed, Napoleon 
ordered his batteries in front of Aspern to open their fire, as if to cover a 
landing at that point ; and the moment that this demonstration, together 
with the approach of night, had sufficiently arrested the attention of the 
Archduke, the Emperor took his station on horseback, at the lower ex- 
tremity of the island, where the passage was in fact to be attempted, and 
by his personal exertions hastened forward the movement. In the short 
space of ten minutes, three bridges, previously prepared in huge single 
sections, were thrown across the branch of the river, and soon after mid- 
night, three more were added to these, making six in all, over which the 
troops defiled with such rapidity that before seven o'clock on the morn- 
ing of the 5th, the entire French force, with the principal part of the 
artillery, stood on the northern bank of the Danube. The Archduke 
was astounded when, early in the day, he took a survey of the enemy's 
position, and, instead of beholding the French mustered in great strength 
at the bridge of Aspern, descried an enormous black mass of troops on 
the plain near Enzersdorf. He saw at a glance that his lines were 
turned, that his intrenchments, constructed with so much labor, were 
valueless, and that a retreat could alone enable him to maintain his com- 
munications, and give or receive battle with advantage. He therefore 
immediately called in his outposts ; and his centre, with a celerity rival- 
ling the manoeuvres of the French soldiers, fell back in good order to the 
plateau of Wagram. 

This plateau consists of an elevated plain, in the form of a vast par- 
allelogram, rising at a distance of four miles from the Danube, and 
stretching thence some miles to the north. The villages of Wagram and 
Neusiedel occupy the two southern angles of this plain, the Russbach 
runs along its southern front, and half a mile to the south, opposite the 
centi'e of the position, lies the village of Baumersdorf. Beyond the 
plateau, the Austrian lines extended over a ridge of heights to the west, 
as far as Stammersdorf. 

The French army was drawn up in one line on the bank of the river, 
and when the order was given to advance, the several corps moved 
forward in a curve, spreading like the folds of a fan to the north, east 
and west. Massena, on the left, marched toward Essling and Aspern ; 
Bernadotte toward Aderklaa ; Eugene and Oudinot between Wagram and 
Baumersdorf; Davoust and Grouchy, on the right, in the direction of 
Glingendorf, and the corps of Wrede, Marmont and the Imperial Guards 
formed a reserve under the Emperor in person. 

At six o'clock in the afternoon. Napoleon, having ascertained that the 
Archduke John had not arrived, resolved to talte advantage of his great 
superiority of numbers, and attack immediately ; for he had grouped in 
his centre nearly a hundred thousand men, including the reserves, while 
the Austrian force on the plateau did not exceed sixty thousand. Pow- 
erful batteries were accordingly brought up, which opened a severe fire 
on the Imperialist line ; but the Archduke's guns, placed on higher ground, 
replied with much greater effect. Oudinot's corps came first into action. 
He attacked Baumersdorf, which was gallantly defended, by General 
Hardegg; and, with such obstinacy did the latter maintain his ground. 



1809.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 265 

Oudinot was unable to force the village, carry the bridges, or cross the 
stream on either side in the rear. Eugene came next in order, and as- 
sailed the village of Wagram; but the moment that liis column reached 
the summit of the heights, it was staggered by a murderous discharge of 
grape from sixty Austrian guns at half musket-shot. Macdonald, Dupas 
and Lamarque pressed forward to sustain the wavering troops ; and with 
this preponderance of force, they at length broke the Austrian line, took 
five standards and made two thousand men prisoners. At this crisis, the 
Archduke hastened to the spot with the regiments of Zach, Vogelsang and 
D'Erlach, and arrested the French columns, while Hohenzollern charged 
vigorously on its right flank. The struggle was violent for a few mo- 
ments; but it ended in the repulse of the French, who, driven headlong 
down the steep, fled in confusion across the Russbach. It was now 
nearly dark, and the corps of Saxons under Bernadotte, who came to the 
aid of the routed columns, mistook the retreating host for the Austrians, 
fired upon them as such, and in a moment were themselves overwhelmed 
by the futjitives. The disorder became so great and so contagious, that 
it spread even to the Emperor's tent; and, during the melee, the two 
thousand Austrian prisoners escaped, the five standards were recaptured, 
and two French eagles were taken. Indeed, had the Archduke been 
fully aware of the extent of the panic, and followed up his success with 
a large body of fresh troops, he might have destroyed the French army. 
But, ignorant of the prodigious eflTect of his partial attack, he at eleven 
o'clock sounded a retreat, and his men fell back to their original positions. 

The brilliant success of this action induced the Austrian commander 
to change his plan and prepare to assume the offensive. At two o'clock 
on the morning of the 6th, he dispatched another messenger to his brother, 
the Archduke John, who was then at Marchcheck, thirteen miles from 
the French right flank, whence he might with ease arrive on the field 
early in the day ; and his appearance, with forty thousand fresh troops, 
would readily decide a previously hard-fought battle. With a view to 
such cooperation. Prince Charles resolved to direct his principal attack 
against the Emperor's left, at Aspern and Essling ; and he doubted not 
that success in that quarter would counterbalance any advantage which 
the French might gain in front of Wagram. In the meantime. Napoleon 
had planned a grand attack on the Austrian centre, and withdrawn Mas- 
sena from his left to lead the assault, leaving at Aspern the single divis- 
ion of Boudet to guard the bridges. Thus, the whole strength of the 
French army was thrown into its centre and right ; Davoust being on 
the extreme right ; Massena next to him near Aderklaa ; Marmont, Berna- 
dotte, Oudinot and Eugene fronting Wagram ; and Bessieres with the re- 
serve in the rear of the centre around Raschdorf. 

At daybreak on the 6th, Napoleon, while giving some final orders, 
was surprised by the discharge of heavy guns on his left ; and the rapidly 
increasing roar and smoke in that direction, indicated that the Austrian 
right wing was seriously engaged, and making dangerous progress. He 
soon after received information that his own right was menaced by Ro- 
senberg, and that Bellegarde had forced back Bernadotte in the centre. 
Notwithstanding all his activity, therefore, the French Emperor was 
anticipated in the offensive ; and from the fact that the attack of the 
Imperialists commenced on his left, he feared that the Archduke John 
had come up during tJie night, and that his right flank was about to be 



266 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXXI. 

turned with an overwhelming force. Perceiving the dangers of such a 
combined attack, which simultaneously threatened both his flanks, Napo- 
leon hastened to support the right with his reserve Guards and cuiras- 
siers; but as he approached Glinzendorf, the Austrian advance was 
arrested ; for Prince Charles, finding that the Archduke John had not 
arrived, and that Rosenberg would necessarily be defeated by the Em- 
peror's charge, ordered that officer to withdraw behind the Russbach. 

In the meantime, St. Cyr, while executing the prescribed change of 
position, with the leading columns of Massena's corps, had carried the 
village of Aderklaa ; but, instead of occupying the houses and strength- 
enino- himself there, he pressed on until he came within range of the 
artillery of Bellegarde's corps, between Aderklaa and Wagram. His 
troops were so shattered by this fire, that they fell back in disorder into 
the village ; and the Archduke, following up their retreat with a detach- 
ment of grenadiers, drove them thence at the point of the bayonet, and 
pushed them upon the Saxon contingents ; who, in turn, fled toward Mas- 
sena in such confusion, that the French marshal ordered his dragoons to 
charge upon them for his personal security. The Archduke in this affair 
received a musket-ball in the shoulder, and Massena was thrown from 
his horse and severely bruised by the fall. 

To arrest this disorder, Napoleon recalled his Guards from the right, 
and riding to the centre at the head of the cuirassiers, soon succeeded in 
re-forming the broken columns. He then directed Massena's division to 
move by battalions in close column toward Aspern ; and this m.arch was 
commenced with great regularity, although the ranks were shattered at 
every step by the cross-fire of the Austrian batteries. It was high time 
that the French left should be relieved by such reenforcement. At ten 
o'clock, Kollowrath and Klenau, preceded by sixty pieces of cannon, fell 
with irresistible strength on Boudet's division at Aspern, took four thou- 
sand prisoners, all the artillery, and drove the routed troops to the edge 
of the Danube. The Austrians then reentered the intrenchments in 
front of Lobau, regained the redoubts evacuated on the preceding day, 
occupied Essling, and pushed their advanced posts so near to the bridges 
leading to Enzersdorf, that the French heavy guns on the island were 
fired to protect them. Startled by the shouts of the Imperialists, the men 
in charge of the French reserve parks and baggage trains ^vere seized 
with a universal panic, and fugitives on all sides overspread the field 
and crowded to the bridges, crying "all is lost! the bridges are taken!" 
While the Austrian "right was thus victorious, their left had experi- 
enced a serious reverse. Davoust, early in the day, dispatched two 
divisions of his corps by a wide circuit to turn the village of Neusiedel, 
and he himself with the other divisions attacked it in front; Oudinot, 
at the same time, had been ordered to keep Hohenzollern in check in the 
centre of the plateau behind Baumersdorf. At ten o'clock, the first two 
divisions had reached their stations, and, after being once repulsed in dis- 
order, established themselves on the plateau at the eastern front of the 
village. The cuirassiers of Grouchy next came up, and defeated Rosen- 
berg's cavalry with great slaughter ; but Hohenzollern's cuirassiers forced 
their way to the support of their countrymen, and Grouchy's corps was 
in turn "broken and driven back ; finally, Monthrun, at the heati of a 
fresh division of French cavalry, charged the Austrian horse and forced 
them from the heights. Meantime, Davoust in person had led his infant- 



1809.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 267 

ry against the village, and carried it after a desperate contest, pressing 
Rosenberg's entire corps in the direction of his routed cavalry over the 
eastern side of the plateau. 

Napoleon now ordered a general attack with his whole force, including 
his reserve, on every point of the Austrian position. Macdonald led the 
movement by an impetuous assault on the Archduke's centre. He 
charged at the head of eight strong battalions, passed Aderklaa and Brei- 
tenlee, and for some distance pushed, without breaking, the Imperialists' 
line. As his column proceeded, however, it became enveloped by the 
concentrated fire of his opponents, until at last, his eight battalions were 
reduced to fifteen hundred men. Napoleon, perceiving that Macdonald 
could not much longer sustain thi« destructive storm, detached Reille 
with the Young Guard to support him, saying, as he did so, " Husband 
your men as much as possible ; I have now no reserve left but two regi- 
ments of the Old Guard." At the same time, he ordered the cuirassiers 
and dragoons of Nansouty and Walther to cooperate with Reille's ad- 
vance. The charges of cavalry were disastrous to the French : Bes- 
sieres, while leading the squadrons on, was struck in the thigh by a can- 
non ball, and taken up for dead ; Nansouty succeeded to the command, 
but the fire with which he was received cut down his men to such a de- 
gree, that they were forced to retire, with a loss of half of their numbers, 
before they could even reach the enemy. The infantry, however, were 
more successful. As soon as Macdonald saw the Young Guard advan- 
cing to his support, he resumed his forward movement; and the Archduke, 
despairing now of maintaining his position, gave orders for a retreat, which 
his troops effected in admirable order. He availed himself of every ad- 
vantage of ground to retard the pursuit, and the French were so exhausted 
that they followed his steps without vigor or enthusiasm. No cannon or 
prisoners were taken ; scarcely a charge of cavalry was made ; in fact, 
but for the retrograde movement of one army and the slow advance of 
the other, it would have been impossible to say which was master of the 
field. Napoleon was much chagrined at this indecisive result, and vented 
his ill-humor in loud reproaches on the cavalry generals. " Was ever 
anything seen like this!" he exclaimed. "Neither prisoners nor guns! 
We gain nothing by all this slaughter !" At nightfall, the Austrians took 
post along the heights behind Stammersdorf, and the French bivouacked 
in the plain at the foot of the hills. 

Toward the close of this obstinately contested battle, the Archduke 
John approached the field ; but finding that his brother had retreated, he 
retraced his steps and arrived at Marchcheck before midnight. Had he 
reached the field at an earlier hour, in conformity to his brother's orders, 
it can scarcely be doubted that victory would have declared for the Aus- 
trian army. The losses of the battle of Wagram were immense. No 
less than twenty-five thousand men on each side were killed or wounded, 
and the Austrian right wing took five thousand prisoners. 

Two lines of retreat were open to the Archduke when he determined 
to relinquish the field ; one, to Olmutz, and the other, to Bohemia : and, 
so little did the French troops press their adversaries when the retrograde 
movement commenced, the Emperor was for a time uncertain which of 
the two routes they had chosen. The Archduke at length took the latter, 
in order to cover Prague, which, next to Vienna, was the greatest military 
establishment of the Empire, and stood in a position easily capable of 
defence against an invading army. 



2fi8 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXJ. 

The Austrian retreat was scarcely molested until the troops reached 
Znaym, where Prince Charles, finding himself pressed by Massena, halted 
and took up a strong defensive position. The French marshal, supported 
by Marmont's division, led on his columns with great impetuosity ; but, 
although his soldiers gained some temporary advantage, they were. soon 
arrested by the Austrian batteries, and became so hemmed in by the flank 
movements of the Archduke's grenadiers that they were in danger of 
being entirely cut off. At this juncture, proposals for an armistice from 
the head-quarters of the Imperialists reached Napoleon, who, alarmed for 
the safety of Massena and Marmont, acceded to the proposition. 

By the terms of the armistice, the French, as a preliminary to a treaty 
of peace, were permitted to retain possession of Upper Austria as far as 
the borders of Bohemia, including the circles of Znaym and Brunn, the 
district comprised by the course of the Morava to its confluence with the 
Taya, the course of the Danube to Raab, and the river Raab by the fron- 
tiers of Styria and Carniola to Fiume ; the town of Presburg, the citadels 
of Gratz and Brunn, the fort of Sasenburg and the districts of Tyrol and 
Vorarlberg, were also comprehended in this conditional surrender. The 
armistice was concluded by the Archduke Charles alone, subject, how- 
ever, to the ratification of the Emperor. The cabinet of Vienna, at that 
time assembled at Komorn in Hungary, loudly protested against their 
Emperor's affi.xing his signature to the contract ; but they at length waived 
their objections, and it was signed on the 18th of July. 

Negotiations for peace were immediately commenced ; and after being 
protracted into October, a treaty was concluded on the 14th of that month, 
at Vienna. By this treaty, Austria lost territories containing three and 
a half millions of inhabitants; of which Bavaria received the Inn-Viertel 
and the Hansneck-Viertel, Salzburg with its adjacent territory, and the 
valley of Berchtolsgaden ; while the Grand-duchy of Warsaw and Russia 
obtained certain valuable portions of Galicia. To the kingdom of Italy 
she yielded Carniola, the circle of Villach in Carinthia, six districts of 
Croatia, Fiume and its territory ^n the sea-shore, Trieste, the county of 
Govici, Montefalcone, Austrian Istria, Cartua and its dependent isles, the 
thalweg of the Save, and the lordship of the Radzuns in the Grisons. 
In addition to this, the Emperor, on the part of his brother, the Archduke 
Antony, renounced the office of Grand-master of the Teutonic Order with 
its rights and territories. Besides these public articles, some secret ones 
were annexed to the treaty. The Austrian army was to be reduced to 
one hundred and fifty thousand men ; all persons born in France, Belgium, 
Piedmont or the Venetian States, were to be dismissed the service, and a 
contribution of eighty-five millions of francs was imposed on the provinces 
occupied by the French troops. 

The treaty of Vienna was received with marked disapprobation by the 
cabinet of St. Petersburg, and it produced an important effect in widening 
the breach already formed between the two great monarchs of France 
and Russia. In vain did Napoleon assure Alexander, that he had watched 
over his interest as he would have done over his own : the Russian Auto- 
crat could perceive no traces of such regard in the dangerous augmenta- 
tion of the territories of the Grand-duchy of Warsaw, and he openly 
testified his displeasure to Caulaincourt ; but notwithstanding his anger, 
he did not hesitate to take the small portion of Galicia allotted to him by 
the treaty. Napoleon, however, spared no efforts to appease the Czar ; 



1809.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. - 269 

and, knowing that a secret dread of the restoration of Poland was the 
chief cause of the Autocrat's disquietude, he engaged not only to concur 
with him in everything which should tend to efface ancient recollections, 
but even declared a desire that "the name of Poland and the Poles should 
disappear from every political transaction and from history itself." 

As soon as the treaty was ratified. Napoleon set out for Paris ; but, 
before quhting Austria, and in the interval between the signature and the 
ratification of the treaty, he barbarously gave orders for the destruction 
of the ramparts of Vienna. Mines had been previously constructed un- 
der the principal bastions, and as the trains were fired one after another, 
the parapets rose into the air, and the works beneath suddenly swelled 
and burst like a succession of volcanoes. This cruel devastation highly 
exasperated the inhabitants : the rampa rts, shaded by trees, were the pride 
and glory of the capital ; they were associated with the most stirring 
events of Austrian history ; they had withstood all the assaults of the 
Turks ; and had been witness to the heroism of Maria Theresa. The 
destruction of these venerable monuments of former days, not in the fury 
of battle nor under the pressure of necessity, but in cold blood, after 
peace was declared and when the invaders were preparing to withdraw, 
was justly regarded as an outrage of the most oppressive and degrading 
character, and as such highly disgraceful to the Emperor of France. 

While the cabinet of Vienna thus yielded in the strife, and the cam- 
paign was drawing to a conclusion on the banks of the Danube, the Tyrol 
became the theatre of a desperate conflict, and the shepherds of the Alps 
for a time maintained their independence against a power which Austria 
could not withstand. Having, by a general insurrection, delivered their 
country from the invaders after the battle of Aspern, and spread them- 
selves over the adjoining provinces, the brave mountaineers hoped that 
their perils were over, and that a second victory on the Danube would 
relieve their Emperor from French exaction and oppression ; but soon the 
news of the battle of Wagram and of the armistice of Znaym struck them 
with dismay. The order speedily arrived for the military evacuation of 
Tyrol and Vorarlberg, in conformity to the terms of the armistice ; but the 
insurgent peasantry refused to obey, and proceeded to disarm such of the 
Austrian soldiers as prepared to comply with the mandate. While the 
people were in this state of excitement, Hofer presented himself before a 
crowded assembly, and averred that he would spend his blood to the last 
drop in defence of the country ; and the multitude, with loud shouts, pro- 
claimed him " commander-in-chief of the province so long as it pleased 
God." 

As the armistice in Germany enabled Napoleon to detach any amount 
of force requisite to subdue the insurrection, he sent Lefebvre into the 
mountains at the head of thirty thousand men. This general readily 
made himself master of Innspruck on the route ; but when he reached the 
northern slope of the»Brenner, he encountered a mass of undisciplined 
peasantry posted behind the rocks and trees, who totally routed him, took 
twenty-five pieces of cannon, all his ammunition, and drove him back in 
utter confusion to Innspruck. About the same time, a body of seventeen 
hundred French troops marched toward the rear of Hofer's position at 
Sterzing ; but they were met at Prutz by a detachment of Tyrolese sharp- 
shooters, who almost entirely destroyed them, killing or wounding more 
than three hundred and taking nine hundred prisoners. Encouraged by 



270 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXI. 

this and several similar victories, Hofer resolved to attack Lefe})vre's 
whole corps at Innspruck. He marched against that town early in the 
morning of August 12th, and, despite the numbers, discipline and well- 
approved bravery of the French troops, carried it before nightfall at the 
point of the bayonet. The victors, whose numbers were diminished only 
nine hundred men, inflicted a loss on the invaders of no less than six 
thousand, of whom nearly two thousand were prisoners. 

This victory for a time entirely cleared the country of its enemies ; 
but it was vain for the brave Tyrolese to hope that they could long con- 
tend, with impunity, against the gigantic strength of Napoleon's armies. 
An overwhelming force was soon assembled on their frontiers, and the 
invasion commenced at so many points that Hofer resolved to submit, and 
published a proclamation, enjoining the people to obey a power which they 
could not resist. The inhabitants, however, refused to yield, and forced 
Hofer to resume the command, which he did with great reluctance, and 
gained a brilliant victory over General Rusca, at the old castle of Tyrol. 
After this event, the urgent entreaties of Eugene Beauhai'nois — who, 
foreseeing the desperate character of the struggle, generously urged the 
inhabitants to submission with a promise of amnesty — finally put an end 
to hostilities. Hofer now abandoned all thought of delivering his country, 
but he refused to accept the amnesty and submit to the French authorities, 
and was therefore proscribed. He for some time evaded the pursuit of 
his enemies ; but at length, a detachment of sixteen hundred men sur- 
rounded his hiding-place, made him prisoner, and immediately took him 
to Mantua to be tried by a military commission. He was at once found 
guilty of resisting the French after Eugene's proclamation of amnesty ; 
but the members were greatly divided as to the punishment he should 
receive. Their deliberations were cut short by a telegraphic dispatch 
from the French Emperor, ordering him to be shot within twenty-four 
hours. He received his sentence with unshaken firmness, and suffered 
its execution in a manner befitting his life and character. 

Few events in the history of Napoleon have left a darker stain on his 
memory, than the slaughter of this brave man. It is vain to assert in 
his justification that Hofer was a rebel. The resistance of the Tyrolese 
was a national contest against foreign aggression : their object was not to 
rise in rebellion against a constituted government, but to maintain their 
allegiance to the Austrian monarchy. These people had, but a few 
years before, and against their wish, been forcibly transferred from the 
paternal rule of their lawful sovereign to the rude oppression of a foreign 
tyrant. A dominion of four years could not annul the political relations 
of four centuries. Hofer had never acknowledged Napoleon to be his 
master, and by all the rules of civilized warfare, as well as upon every 
principle of justice and honor, he was at the worst entitled to be treated 
like a prisoner of war. 

The British government, in the summer of thi§ year, undertook an 
enterprise of some moment on the banks of the Scheldt, having for its 
object the capture of Antwerp. This city was one of Napoleon's most 
important strong-holds, and contained in its harbor a powerful fleet. Its 
formidable strength, and increasing importance as a naval station, to- 
gether with its proximity to the British shores, rendered it, in Napoleon's 
hands, eminently dangerous to England. At present, its fortifications. 
were out of repair, and its cannon were dismounted ; its garrison con- 



1809.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 271 

sisted of little more than two thousand invalids, and the regular army of 
France was so absorbed on the Danube and in the Peninsula, that it was 
questionable whether the town, if secretly and suddenly attacked, could 
receive a support adequate to its protection. 

The expedition, therefore, was well-timed, and the foi'ces employed 
were fully equal to the undertaking ; but the vice in its prosecution was 
of the same nature as that which had already rendered abortive so many 
schemes of hostility to France ; namely, a wanton and needless delay in 
every movement. The armament consisted of thirty-seven ships of the 
line, twenty-three frigates, thirty-three sloops, eighty-two gun-boats, be- 
sides a fleet of transports, carrying, in addition to the crews of the ships, 
forty thousand land troops with two battering trains. This stupendous 
force reached the coast of Holland on the 29th of July. On the 30th, 
twenty thousand men were disembarked on the island of Walcheren, who 
speedily took possession of Middleburg, and drove the French troops 
within the walls of Flushing. At the same time, another detachment 
landed in Cadsand, expelled the enemy from that island, and opened the 
way for the passage of the fleet up the main branch of the Scheldt. Sir 
Richard Strachan, disregarding the batteries of Flushing, then passed 
the straits with eighteen ships of the line, and soon both branches of the 
river were crowded with British pennants. Ter Vere, a fortress com- 
manding the Veergat, was next assailed by the land forces and taken 
with its garrison of a thousand men ; Goes, the capital of South Beve- 
land, also opened its gates ; after which. Sir John Hope, with .seven 
thousand men, pressed on to Bahtz ; and, such was the con,sterna- 
tion produced by the strength and hitherto rapid advance of the British 
forces, this fort, which commanded both channels, was evacuated by its 
garrison during the night. The success of the expedition now appeared 
certain. More than two-thirds of the distance to Antwerp had been 
traversed in three days, the British standards were only five leagues from 
the capital, and within four days, at farthest, the whole armament might 
have been assembled around its walls. 

It is acknowledged by the French military writers, that, owing to the 
unguarded situation of Antwerp at this crisis, it must inevitably have 
fallen into the hands of the English troops, had they followed up their 
invasion with the same spirit as they commenced it. Besides, the orders 
communicated to Lord Chatham were explicit on this point : the capture 
of Antwerp, and the destruction of the ships building or afloat in the 
Scheldt, and of the arsenals and dock-yards in Antwerp, Terneuse and 
Flushing, were the principal objects of the expedition ; while the reduc- 
tion of Walcheren was of entirely subordinate importance. But England 
had not two Wellingtons in her service. Lord Chatham, the command- 
er-in-chief of the armament, neither inherited the energy of his father, 
nor shared the capacity of his immortal brother, William Pitt. Destitute 
of experience and indolent in his habits, he was precisely the man to mis- 
lead a great undertaking. Reversing, therefore, the tenor of his instruc- 
tions, and the dictates of sound sense, he directed his first elaborate effort 
to the attainment of the least important object ; and instead of hastening 
to an easy victory at Antwerp, he arrayed his strength around Flushing, 
which surrendered after an investment of three days, with its garrison of 
six thousand men and two hundred pieces of cannon. This was doubt- 
less a conquest of some value ; but it was as dust in the balance com- 



272 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXI 

pared with the main objects which the English government had in view, 
and for which their orders so clearly provided. While the British sol- 
diers were fighting bravely at Flushing, the French and Dutch troops 
were hurrying toward Antwerp ; and after the reduction of Flushing, 
which event occurred on the 16th of August, the English general so de- 
layed his movements, that he did not reach Bahtz until the 26th. In the 
meantime, the Antwerp fleet was moved farther up the river, out of reach 
of the British ships, and Antwerp itself, occupied in force by regular 
troops, was beyond the power of an assault. 

As a further advance now became impossible. Lord Chatham fell back 
to Walcheren, where he proposed to maintain himself; but after a few 
weeks, a distemper, bred by the unliealthy marshes of that island, broke 
out among the soldiers, and its ravages were so fatal, that, after taking 
the opinions of his officers at a council of war, the commander-in-chief 
resolved to abandon the place and return to England ; which he accord- 
ingly did in the month of December. 

It has already been mentioned, that when the pope, Pius VII., took the 
unusual step of going to the French capital to perform the ceremony of 
crov/ning Napoleon, he expected some great concessions in return ; 
and subsequently, he had from time to time urged his claims on the 
Emperor, but always without obtaining either benefits or promises. Nor 
did Napoleon merely refuse to reciprocate the obligation: during the 
Austrian war of 1805, the French troops seized Ancona, the most import- 
ant fortress in the Ecclesiastical dominions; and when his holiness re- 
monstrated against this aggression, Napoleon, instead of heeding his 
complaints, avowed himself Emperor of Rome, and declared that the pope 
was only his viceroy. This explicit declaration of the Fi'ench Empe- 
ror's intentions, at once opened the eyes and aroused the courage of the 
pope; who thereafter, on all occasions, intrepidly maintained a tone and 
attitude of defiance toward the conqueror. Napoleon, however, took little 
heed of his measures. In the Italian wars that ensued, he overrun and 
occupied at pleasure the papal dominions ; and, in February, 1808, he 
permanently quartered a large body of French troops in Rome. In April 
of the same year, he declared the provinces of Urbino, Ancona, Mace- 
rata and Camerino — forming nearly a third part of the Ecclesiastical ter- 
ritories — irrevocably united to the kingdom of Italy. The pope was next 
confined a prisoner in his own palace; French guards occupied all parts 
of the capital ; French officers assumed control of the posts, the press, the 
taxes, the whole government, in sliort ; the papal troops were incorpo- 
rated into the French ranks and their own officers dismissed. And 
while all these outrages were in progress, the French Emperor constantly 
importuned the pope to join the general league, offensive and defensive, 
with himself and the King of Naples. 

At length, on the 17th of May, 1809, the last act of violence was per- 
petrated. Napoleon issued a decree from the camp near Vienna, setting 
forth that " the States of the pope are united to the French Empire ; Rome, 
so interesting from its recollections and the first seat of Christianity, is 
declared an imperial and free city ;" and these changes were ordered to 
take effect on the 1st of June following. The pope, in reply to this de- 
cree, published a bull of excommunication against Napoleon and all con- 
cerned in this high-handed measure. This bull was placarded on all the 
usual places, and with such secrecy as to escape the knowledge or sus- 



1809.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 273 

picion of the police. The pope, fearful that the individuals concerned in 
printing and circulating the paper might be discovered and punished by- 
Napoleon's emissaries, used great precautions to avert such a catastrophe ; 
but he entertained no fear for himself. On the contrary, he transcribed 
the original document with his own hand, that no one else could become 
implicated by a fortuitous discovery of the hand-writing. 

Napoleon, though unprepared for so vigorous an act on the part of 
the sovereign pontiff, was not the less prompt in his measures. He had 
long ago conceived the project of uniting the tiara and the Imperial crown 
on his own brow ; but fearing that in Modern Europe this could not be 
done directly, he resolved now to attempt it indirectly, by transferring 
the residence of the pope to France, where he hoped to control every ec- 
clesiastical measure. On the night of the 5th of July, Miollis and Radet, 
acting indeed without the express orders of Napoleon in this instance, 
though in conformity to the spirit of his previous instructions, surrounded 
the Quirinal with three regiments ; thirty men, in profound silence, scaled 
the walls of the garden, and took post under the windows of the palace; 
and fifty more effected an entrance by the window of an unoccupied room. 
This being done during the night, the gates at six o'clock in the morning 
were thrown open, and Radet entered at the head of his troops, proclaim- 
ing that his orders were to arrest the pope and the Cardinal Pacca, his 
chief counsellor, and conduct them out of Rome. The pope and the car- 
dinal, awakened by the strokes of the hatchets used in breaking down the 
interior doors, immediately rose ; and as his holiness expected to be mur- 
dered on the spot, he called for the ring which his predecessor, Pius VI., 
had worn when dying, and placed it on his finger. To prevent further 
violence, the remaining doors were thrown open and the troops entered 
the pope's apartment. Radet, pale and trembling with emotion, announced 
to the holy father, that he was charged with the painful duty of declaring 
that his holiness must i*esign the temporal sovereignty of Rome and the 
Ecclesiastical States, or accompany him to the head-quarters of General 
Miollis. The pope replied, that he had higher duties to perform than 
obedience to any military chieftain ; and that " the Emperor, if he saw fit, 
might cut him in pieces, but he could never draw from him such a resig- 
nation." The alternative of arrest was therefore submitted to, and the 
pope and Cardinal Pacca took their seats in a carriage escorted by a pow- 
erful detachment of Fi'ench cavalry. Their journey was hastened to 
such a degree, that for nineteen successive hours they were not allowed 
to rest or take any refreshment. On reaching Florence, they were 
separated from each other ; the cardinal was conveyed to Grenoble, and 
thence, by a special order of Napoleon, transferred to the state prison of 
Fenestrelles, in Savoy ; and the pope was hurried across the Alps by 
Mount Cenis into France. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

MARITIME war; AND CAMPAIGN OF 1809 IN SPAIN AND PORTtTGAL. 

The event that first roused the British people from the despondency 
caused by the unsatisfactory result of the Peninsula campaign, was a 
brilliant achievement of their arms at sea. Early in the year, a French 
squadron of eleven ships of the line and seven frigates was assembled in 
Basque Roads, under the command of Admiral Villaumer, destined to re- 
lieve the Island of Martinique, in the West Indies, which was then threat- 
ened by a British fleet. The English government, immediately on 
receiving intelligence of this armament, dispatched Lord Gambler, with 
eleven ships of the line and a number of frigates, to blockade the French 
vessels. Admiral Villaumer, alarmed at the approach of so formidable a 
force, weighed anchor and stood for the inner and more protected roads of 
Isle d'Aix, and while executing this manoeuvre, one of his line-of-battle 
ships went ashore and was lost. The British admiral followed him and 
anchored in Basque Roads; and, as the proximity of the hostile fleets, in 
so confined a position, rendered them especially exposed to the operation 
of fire-ships, the British resolved on that method of attack. Twelve ves- 
sels of this description were soon fitted out in the English harbors, placed 
under the immediate command of Lord Cochrane, and dispatched to 
Basque Roads, where they arrived in the beginning of April. 

Villaumer, to guard against this assault, had drawn across the line of 
his fleet a strong boom, composed of spars, cables and chains braced 
together, and secured at each end by anchors of an enormous weight. 
On the evening of the 11th of April, Ihe wind blowing fresh, and from 
the most favorable quarter, the fire-ships got under weigh and bore down 
on the enemy ; Lord Cochrane taking personal charge of the leading 
vessel, which had on board fifteen hundred pounds of powder and four 
shells. The moment that the attacking force came within range of the 
French fleet, the latter opened a terrible fire of heavy guns and bombs ; 
and the danger of the British may be understood from the fact, that their 
vessels were all full loaded with gunpowder, and any one of the flaming 
projectiles issuing from the French mortars would suffice to explode them. 

The Mediator frigate first struck the boom, and she dashed through it 
almost without pausing in her course. The fire-ships came on in quick 
succession, and the French officers, believing all to be lost, immediately 
slipped their cables and drifted ashore in wild confusion. At daybreak 
the next morning, one half the French fleet was discovered to be ashore, 
and at eight o'clock, only two vessels were afloat. Lord Cochrane, who 
had regained his own ship, now made signal to Lord Gambler to advance; 
but that officer, instead of acting with the promptitude that such an emer- 
gency required, waited to summon a council of war, and did not get 
under weigh until eleven o'clock ; then, after having approached to 
within six miles of the French squadron, he cast anchor, alleging that 
he could not proceed until high water. Meantime, the French admiral, 
reassured by the dilatory movement of his antagonists, made great efforts 
to get his ships afloat, which the rising tide at length enabled him to do ; 



1809.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 275 

and Lord Cochrane, stung to the quick at seeing his noble prizes thus 
about to escape through the disgraceful negligence of his commander-in- 
chief, himself pressed on to the attack in his single frigate ; Captain Bligh 
with the bomb vessels and other light craft followed, and a cannonade 
was commenced on the most exposed part of the fleet. The Calcutta, 
of fifty guns, speedily struck to Cochrane's frigate ; the Ville de Var- 
sovie, the Aquilon, the Indienne, and the Tonnerre took fire and were 
destroyed ; but the remainder of the ships, though considerably injured, 
made good their escape under the guns of the batteries on shore. On his 
return to England, Lord Gambler was tried by a court-martial for his 
conduct in this battle and eventually acquitted ; yet Napoleon has him- 
self confessed, that "had Cochrane been supported by the admiral, as he 
easily might have been, the French ships must all have fallen into the 
hands of the British." 

The French West India islands, which the defeated squadron was in- 
tended to relieve, became now the prey of the victors. Martinique, 
Cayenne, and the fortress of St. Domingo were successively captured, and 
the French flag was thenceforward entirely excluded from that quarter 
of the world. Bourbon and the Isle of France in the India Ocean about 
the same time surrendered to the British arms, as did also the seven 
Ionian islands in the Mediterranean ; and in the Bay of Rosas, Colling- 
wood captured or destroyed three French ships of the line, two frigates 
and eleven smaller vessels of war. 

When Madrid fell into the hands of the French, and the English re- 
treated to Corunna, the affairs of the Peninsula seemed to be in a despe- 
rate condition,. There was no force in Portugal on which any reliance 
could be placed, excepting eight thousand British soldiers under Cradock, 
posted in and around Lisbon : toward the end of February, however, the 
arrival of six thousand additional troops, commanded by Mackenzie and 
Hill, enabled Cradock to take a position in advance at Saccarino. 

The situation of Spain was still more discouraging. Blake's army had 
dwindled down to eight or nine thousand ragged and half starved men, 
without stores or artillery, who with difficulty maintained themselves in 
the mountains of Galicia ; the remains of the army of Aragon, under 
Palafox, had thrown themselves into Saragossa ; a few detachments of 
the army of Castanos joined to a mass of fugitives from Somo-Sierra and 
Madrid, twenty-five thousand in all, lay in La Mancha ; while ten or 
twelve thousand disorganized levies at Badajoz formed a sort of guard 
lor the Central Junta, which had established itself in that city after the 
fall of the capital. The new recruits in Andalusia, Grenada and Valen- 
cia were too ill-disciplined and too remote from the scene of war, to be 
capable of efficient action in the earlier periods of the campaign; and 
although in Catalonia, fifty thousand men held Gerona, Rosas, Tarra- 
gona, Tortosa, Lerida, and a strong central range of mountains, they 
were fully occupied with repelling the invaders in their own vicinity. 
Thus, a hundred and twenty thousand men were scattered over the whole 
face of the Peninsula, without any means of uniting together, any central 
authority to compel their obedience, or any common object on which to 
concentrate their efforts. Joseph reigned at Madrid with the seeming 
consent of the nation. Registers had been opened for the names of those 
who were favorable to his government, and within a few days, no less 
than twenty-eight thousand heads of families had, through fear or apathy, 



276 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXII. 

enrolled themselves therein ; and deputations from the municipal council, 
the council of the Indies, and all the corporate bodies, waited on him at 
Valladolid, entreating him to return to the capital and reassume the royal 
functions. 

The total French force in the Peninsula, even after the Imperial Guard 
had departed for Germany, amounted to three hundred and twenty thou- 
sand men, of whom two hundred and forty thousand were actually in the 
field. Fifty thousand of them protected the great line of communication 
with France, holding on that route three fortresses and sixty-four military 
posts of correspondence. The northern provinces of Spain were parcelled 
out into military governments, the chiefs of which repressed every attempt 
at insurrection, and levied contributions on the inhabitants, not only for 
the entire support of their respective corps, but in some cases for the ac- 
cumulation of their own private fortunes. Soult was at Corunna, with 
twenty-three thousand men ; Ney, with fourteen thousand, occupied As- 
turias and the northern coast ; Lannes and Moncey, with nearly fifty 
thousand, were charged with the siege of Saragossa ; Victor had estab- 
lished himself, with twenty-five thousand, in Estremadura ; Mortier, with 
a similar force, lay in the valley of the Tagus ; Sebastiani's corps observed 
the enemy's position in La Mancha ; St. Cyr, with forty thousand, was 
encamped in Catalonia ; and Joseph held twelve thousand at Madrid. 

Neither this mighty array, however, nor the defection of those whose 
names filled the registers, drove the people to despair. After the breaking 
out of the Austrian war, the withdrawal of the Imperial Guard, and the 
encouraging tone of the English government, which promised the aid of 
Sir Arthur Wellesley with powerful reenforcements, the inhabitants of 
both Spain and Portugal rose with new spirit to maintain the war. Gen- 
eral Beresford received from the regency the appointment of field- marshal 
in the Portuguese service, and undertook the arduous duty of training the 
new levies, of whom twenty thousand were taken into British pay and 
placed under the direction of British officers; the ancient laws of Portu- 
gal were enforced ; and the whole male population capable of bearing 
arms called out in defence of their country. The Central Junta of Spain, 
too, established themselves at Seville, and issued proclamations calling 
the people to arms, recommending a general adoption of the system of 
guerilla warfare, and avowing their determination never to make peace 
while a single Frenchman polluted the Spanish soil. 

The French opened the campaign by the investment of Saragossa, 
where Palafox had command of fifteen thousand regular soldiers and 
nearly forty thousand stragglers, monks, peasants and mechanics. The 
defences of the town had been materially strengthened since the former 
siege ; arms, ammunition and stores provided in abundance ; new fortifica- 
tions, barriers and trenches drawn across the principal streets ; the houses 
loopholed, and a hundred and eighty pieces of artillery distributed along 
the ramparts. The investment was completed under the direction of 
Marshals Moncey and Mortier ; Junot after a time superseded them ; and 
at length. Napoleon, dissatisfied with the slow progress of the siege, or- 
dered Lannes to assume its direction. Under the influence of these sev- 
eral marshals, each of whom strove to outdo his predecessor, the besieging 
army gradually approached the city, and battered down its outer defences. 

The contest now, as at the previous siege, was waged from street to 
street and from door to door, and the French soldiers, unable in any other 



1809.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 277 

way to gain ground within the walls, commenced a system of mining, by 
which they slowly destroyed house after house in the extremities of the 
town. Even these catastrophes were turned to account by the garrison ; 
for the destruction of the houses left the assailants without cover, and 
they fell by hundreds before the unerring aim of the Aragonese marks- 
men in the adjoining buildings. The French engineers, finding the men 
thus seriously galled by this destructive fire, reduced the quantity of 
powder in the mines, so as to destroy only the inside of the houses, leaving 
the outer walls undisturbed ; and in these half-ruined edifices the inde- 
fatigable besiegers established themselves, and pushed on fresh mines 
and attacks. The battle was maintained in this manner for more than 
three weeks ; and the French soldiers, disheartened at such desperate 
resistance, and worn out with the fatigues of so protracted a struggle, 
despaired of conquering a town where every house was defended like a 
citadel, and every street flowed ankle-deep with the blood of its assailants. 
" Scarcely a fourth of the place is won," said they, " and we are already 
exhausted. We must wait for reenforcements, or we shall all perish 
among these ruins, which will become our tombs before we can force the 
last of the desperadoes from the last of their dens." 

But while depression thus weighed on the spirits of the besiegers, the 
miseries of the besieged were becoming insupportable. The incessant 
shower of bombs and cannon-balls that fell on the town had, for a month 
past, compelled the inhabitants not actually combating, to take refuge in 
the cellars ; and the confinement of such a multitude in these narrow 
and gloomy recesses, induced an epidemic fever which was now making 
fearful ravages. The combined action of pestilence and the sword de- 
stroyed thousands every day ; no room could be found for interring the 
host of corses, and the living and the dead were shut up together, while 
the roar of artillery, the explosion of mines, the crash of falling houses, 
and the alternate shouts of the infuriated soldiery, shook the city night 
and day above their subterranean abodes. Human nature has limits to 
its powers of endurance, and Saragossa was about to yield ; yet in her 
fall, she was destined to leave behind her a name immortal in the history 
of the world. 

Palafox, finding at length that famine was added to the disasters of the 
garrison, and that the attacks of the enemy were increasing in vigor as 
the patriots relaxed their efforts, resolved to capitulate, and sent his aid- 
de-camp to Lannes with proposals for that purpose. The French mar- 
shal, fearful of driving such a body of men to utter desperation, conceded 
favorable terms. The garrison was marched out with the honors of war, 
and afterward conducted as prisoners to France ; the officers retained 
their swords, horses and baggage, and the soldiers their knapsacks ; pri- 
vate property and public worship were respected, and the armed peas- 
antry dismissed. 

When the French troops marched into the town, six thousand dead 
bodies lay still unburied in the streets, and sixteen thousand sick, for the 
most part in a dying state, encumbered the city : fifty-four thousand hu- 
man beings had perished during the siege, of whom only six thousand fell 
by the sword. Fifty days of open trenches had been borne by a town 
protected by a single wall ; and, for half of that time, the contest was 
maintained against forty thousand besiegers, after that feeble wall had 
fallen and the place was, in a military sense, defenceless. Thirty-three 



278 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chaf. XXXII 

thousand cannon shot and sixteen thousand bombs had been thrown into 
the town ; yet, at the close of the siege, the assailants were masters of 
but a fourth part of its ruins. Pestilence, not the sword, subdued Sara- 
gossa ; and this memorable siege will live in the annals of military he- 
roism when the other achievements of modern Europe shall have passed 
into oblivion. 

Even this devoted city could not escape the pillage and rapacity of the 
French marshals. A contribution of fifty thousand pairs of shoes and 
eight thousand pairs of boots, with medicines and every requisite for a 
hospital, were immediately demanded for the use of the troops ; and the 
church of our Lady of the Pillar was rifled by Lannes of jewels to the 
value of nearly five millions of francs, which he carried with him into 
France for his private benefit — to the infinite mortification of Madame 
Junot, who conceived that her husband had an equal right to the precious 
spoil, and who, in her vexation, has subsequently revealed the details of 
the shameless robbery. 

As both the moral and physical strength of Aragon had been concen- 
trated in Saragossa, its fall drew after it the submission of the remainder 
of the province. The fortress of Jaca, commanding the chief pass through 
the Pyrenees from Aragon to France, surrendered with its garrison of two 
thousand men ; Benasque and other places followed the example ; and, 
before Marshal Lannes was summoned by Napoleon to join the grand 
French army on the banks of the Danube, in the middle of March, the 
conquest of the territory was so far completed, that Junot thought of un- 
dertaking an expedition against Valencia. Nevertheless, the French 
commanders had frequent occasion to learn, during the Peninsular War, 
that the reduction of towns and fortresses did not imply a subjugation of 
the inhabitants of the Spanish provinces. Early in May, Blake, having 
recruited the numbers and greatly improved the condition of his army, 
made a descent on Lerida. As he reached the bank of the Cinca, he 
surprised a detachment of eight companies of French troops separated 
from their corps, and made them all prisoners. Flushed with this suc- 
cess, he resolved next to attempt the deliverance of Saragossa, where the 
French garrison, reduced by disease, did not now exceed ten thousand 
men. Junot at this time lay ill of the prevailing epidemic, and he had 
in consequence been superseded in the command by Suchet. This young 
officer issued from Saragossa, at the head of all his disposable forces, to 
avenge the loss on the bank of the Cinca, and arrest Blake's progress in 
Aragon. He encountered the Spanish general at Alcaniz on the 23rd 
of May ; and although he flattered himself with the hope of an easy vic- 
tory, his assault was so promptly repulsed that he did not venture to 
renew it, but retreated in disorder ; and had Blake vigorously pursued 
him, his whole army must have been destroyed. His loss in this action 
exceeded a thousand men, while Blake's scarcely amounted to three 
hundred. 

Before advancing upon Saragossa, the Spanish general remained for a 
while in its vicinity instructing his soldiers in the various stratagie of war, 
and endeavoring to bring them to a state of discipline that would enable 
them to act efficiently against the practiced veterans of France. At length, 
on the 14th of June, he approached the town at the head of seventeen 
thousa-nd men, and Suchet sallied out with ten thousand to give him battle 
under the walls. Previous to the commencement of the action, Blake 



1809.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 279 

had detached five thousand of his men to Botorrita, with the ridiculous 
design which at that time characterized the manoeuvres of all the Spanish 
generals — of surrounding the enemy : his force actually engaged, there- 
fore, was but twelve thousand men. The Spanish soldiers, though much 
inferior to the French in discipline, bravely maintained their ground for 
a time against the charges of Suchet ; but they became at last involved 
in the broken ground that covered their rear, and retreated with the loss 
of a thousand men and all their artillery. The French loss did not ex- 
ceed eight hundred men. Blake withdrew in the night to Botorrita, 
where he joined the detachment he had so imprudently sent off in the 
morning. He thence moved to Belchite with his whole force, determining 
to make a resolute stand, should Suchet continue the pursuit ; and had 
hardly taken up his position, when the French columns commenced their 
fire. Almost at the first discharge, a shell from the enemy lighted on 
one of his ammunition-wagons, and the explosion that ensued so scared 
the battalion to which the wagon belonged, that the men broke their ranks 
and fled. The next battalion followed the example ; the contagion spread 
rapidly along the whole line, and Blake was soon left alone with his staff 
and a few officers. The Spaniards ran so much faster than the French, 
that the latter could take no prisoners ; but they drew their antagonists' 
artillery and baggage off the field and returned to Saragossa. 

The siege of Gerona, under the direction of St. Cyr, was the next im- 
portant step undertaken by the French troops. This town lies on a steep 
acclivity rising on the bank of the Ter, and terminating in a bluff preci- 
pice garnished with several forts, which constituted the principal strength 
of the place. A single wall fifteen feet high defended the upper town ; 
the lower, being more exposed, had the protection of a rampart, wet ditch 
and outworks. Alvarez, the governor of Gerona, Fas a brave officer, 
fully competent to the task that now devolved on him ; and to express his 
resolution of maintaining the defence, he issued an order on the .5th of 
May, setting forth that whoever spoke of capitulation or surrender should 
instantly be put to death. 

The French commenced their attack on Monjuich, a fort standing on 
a rocky eminence north of the town and separated from it by the valley 
of Galligau : it was provided with bomb-proof casements, cisterns and 
magazines, and garrisoned by nine hundred men. The towers forming 
its outworks were carried by assault on the 19th of June; after which, 
the breaching batteries continued to thunder incessantly on the walls for 
fifteen days. By the 4th of July, a breach was effected, and a party led 
on to storm it, but they were repulsed with great loss. On the 8th, when 
the breach had been enlarged by the continued fire of sixty pieces of 
cannon, the attack was renewed with a sti-onger force, but this also was 
bravely repulsed, with a loss to the assailants of a thousand men. St. 
Cyr finding now that the place could not be carried by assault, resorted 
to the slower but surer operation of the sap and mine which, after the 
lapse of a month, prevailed, and the fort having become untenable, its 
garrison withdrew into the town. 

Although Gerona was greatly exposed by the loss of this fort, as its 
guns commanded every part of the city, the governor maintained his 
defence with the same resolution as before; and on the 1st of September, 
Blake nad the address, in presence of the whole French army, to throw 
a convoy of provisions within the walls. St. Cyr after this pressed the 



280 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXII. 

siege with renewed vigor. On the 11th, he placed his batteries in posi- 
tion against the fortifications of the lower town, and kept up an incessant 
storm of cannon balls until three large breaches were effected. On the 
19th, the whole French army was divided into three columns, and led on 
to the assault: but although charge after charge was made with the most 
desperate bravery, the firm array of the citizens and garrison remained 
invincible, and the assailants were forced to abandon the attempt with a 
loss of sixteen hundred men. 

St. Cyr now resolved to reduce the place by famine, and changed the 
siege into a strict blockade, which ere long brought great distress upon 
the inhabitants. But Napoleon grew dissatisfied on receiving accounts 
of St. Cyr's slow progress, and he dispatched Augereau to supersede 
him. The latter, however, did not alter the plan of attack, but patiently 
awaited the result of the famine, and on the 12th of December, he re- 
ceived proposals for a capitulation, which he readily granted on terms 
honorable to the besieged. The fall of Gerona terminated the campaign 
in Aragon and Catalonia. 

After the fall of Madrid, the Duke del Infantado, who commanded the 
army of the centre which had retreated toward La Mancha, collected 
twenty thousand men at Cuenca: and, so little were the Spanish generals 
yet aware of the immense inferiority of their troops compared Avith the 
French, he marched toward the capital in the expectation of recapturing 
it. Victor set out to meet this force with seventeen thousand men. He 
encountered and defeated their advanced guard on the 10th of January, 
at Tarancon, upon which the whole fell back to Ulces, where Victor at- 
tacked them on the 13th. This action was one of the most disastrous 
that took place during the war. The Spanish army suffered a total 
defeat ; fifteen hundred men were slain, and nine thousand made prison- 
ers with all the artillery, baggage and standards. The French disgraced 
their victory by inhuman cruelties inflicted in cold blood on their pris- 
oners after the battle was terminated. A similar overthrow awaited 
the Spanish arms at Medellin, at which place Cuesta had assembled 
twenty-four thousand men. Victor attacked his position with great im- 
petuosity, and although some parts of the army stood firm against his 
charge, the whole were eventually routed with a loss of ten thousand in 
killed, wounded and prisoners, besides all their baggage and artillery. 
The French loss did not exceed one thousand men. 

In the beginning of February, of this year, Soult received orders to 
assume the offensive in Portugal. He accordingly set out from Vigo, on 
the coast of Galicia, and readied Tuy, on the banks of the Minho, on the 
10th of that month. The river being deep and rapid, and guarded on the 
opposite shore by Portuguese troops, he found great difficulty in crossing 
it; but after meeting with a serious repulse, he finally made good the 
passage on the 20th. This delay proved important to the Portuguese 
cause ; for the fatigue of the French troops was such, that Soult could 
not resume his advance toward Oporto until the 4th of March, and was 
therefore unable to reach Lisbon before the "English reenforcements 
arrived under Mackenzie and Hill. On the 6th, Soult overtook the rear- 
guard of a body of troops, commanded by Romana, and defeated it with 
some loss; on the 13th, he captured the fortified town of Chaves, where 
he left his heavy artillery, with his sick and wounded, and on the 17th, 
proceeded toward Oporto. His march lay through a succeasion of intri- 



1809.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 281 

cate defiles, and at every step he encountered an annoying opposition 
which destroyed his men and so retarded his progress, that he did not 
come in sight of Braga until the 20th. Masses of undisciplined men 
were assembled for the defence of this town, but they gave way at the 
first charge of the French columns, and the place fell into the hands of 
the invaders. The French marshal, after a brief halt at Braga, hastened 
forward and arrived on the north bank of the Duoro, opposite Oporto, on 
the 28th. This city was provided with some means of defence, and the 
hatred that the inhabitants entertained toward the French, gave promise 
of a brave resistance ; but the military force was in an undisciplined 
state, and Soult easily carried the town by assault. 

Matters were in this condition in the Peninsula when, on the 22nd of 
April, Sir Arthur Wellesley, thereafter known as Wellington, landed 
at Lisbon, and took command of the English forces. After deliberately 
considering the relative position of all parties, he resolved to proceed 
against Soult, and commenced his march for the north of Portugal in 
two columns ; one of which, consisting of six thousand foot and one 
thousand cavalry, under Beresford, advanced by Viseu and Lamego 
toward the Upper Duoro, in order to turn Soult's left and cut off his 
retreat by Braga; the other, under Wellington in person, nearly seven- 
teen thousand strong, including sixteen hundred cavalry, moved direct 
upon Oporto. 

The British advanced posts fell in with the enemy on the 11th of May; 
but the latter, by a rapid retreat, extricated themselves, crossed the Duoro, 
and burned the bridge of boats at Oporto. The English troops were soon 
drawn up on the southern bank, and the French battalions lined the other 
shore ; but the river rolled between them and apparently no means of 
crossing were at hand. Early in the morning of the 12th, General Mur- 
ray collected a number of boats four miles above, at Avintas, and passed 
over with a considerable body of troops. At the same time Colonel Wa- 
ters, with the aid of three boats, effected the landing of a hundred men at 
the Seminary of Oporto, who maintained themselves within the walls of 
that building until reinforcements arrived to support them. While the 
French were endeavoring to dislodge the British from this post, Murray's 
columns began to appear on the extreme right, and threatened their line 
of retreat ; and as the great body of the English forces were by this time 
in line on the northern bank of the I'iver, the French became disordered, 
broke, and fled in great confusion, abandoning the town and leaving a 
large quantity of ammunition, with fifty pieces of cannon, in the arsenal. 
The surprise of this attack was so complete and its success so sudden, 
that Wellington, at four o'clock, quietly sat down to the dinner prepared 
for Marshal Soult, at the French commander's head-quartei's. 

The next morning, when Soult had restored order in his ranks and was 
deliberately retreating toward Guimaraens, he received intelligence that 
Amarante, which commanded the only bridge and defile over the Tamega, 
and the only line of retreat practicable for artillery, was already in the 
hands of the enemy. This was soon confirmed by the advance of Loison, 
who had been defeated at Amarante by Bei'esford on the 12th, and was 
now in full retreat upon Oporto. Soult's situation seemed nearly despe- 
rate : the British troops occupied the great road to Braga, and it could be 
regained only by cross hill-paths, impassable for cannon and almost 
equally so for mules and horses. Yet not a moment was to be lost, for 



282 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Cdap XXXII. 

the English pursuing columns menaced his rear, and he could hear the 
thunder of their horse-artillery at no great distance behind. He there- 
fore promptly abandoned his artillery, ammunition and baggage, and 
commenced his route across the mountains. On the 17th, after under- 
going extreme hardships, he reached Montalagre, passed Orense on the 
26th, and on the day following joined Ney at Lugo, having sustained a 
loss of one fourth part of his whole corps. 

Wellington resolved to improve this auspicious commencement of his 
campaign by an advance upon Madrid. He marched from Oporto on the 
30th of June, reached Orpesa on the 20th of July, where he formed a 
junction with Cuesta, and thence hastened toward the capital. The forces 
which now thi'eatened the metropolis were very considerable in point of 
numbers. The English were twenty-two thousand strong, with thirty 
guns; Cuesta had thirty- eight thousand, with forty-six guns ; and Vene- 
gas, who was approaching irom the south, was at the head of twenty-six 
thousand men. As soon as Joseph received intelligence of their approach, 
he sent the most pressing orders to Soult, Ney and Mortier to hasten for- 
ward their corps to Toledo, where he himself also marched with eleven 
thousand men to check the progress of the invaders. Having, by a junc- 
tion with Sebastiani and Victor, assembled at this place an army of fifty- 
five thousand men, Joseph resolved to assume the offensive, without waiting 
for the three other marshals. He quickly defeated the advanced guard 
of Cuesta, and arrived in front of Talavera with his whole force on the 
26th of July. On the 27th, a partial action took place between Victor's 
troops and the British outposts, which ended disadvantageously to the 
French marshal. 

Early on the morning of the 28th, the battle was renewed and main- 
tained for some hours with great obstinacy ; but toward the middle of the 
day, the heat of the weather became so intense that both parties by com- 
mon consent suspended the combat. About three o'clock in the afternoon, 
the French again advanced to the attack, and the battle now became gen- 
eral at all points. The veterans of Sebastiani and Victor Ibught with 
their accustomed impetuosity, and at intervals gained ground upon the 
lines of the allied army ; but they were at length driven back and forced 
to retreat with a loss of seventeen pieces of cannon and nine thousand 
men. Wellington's loss was a little moi-e than six thousand. " The 
battle of Talavera," says Jomini, the French historian, " at once restored 
the reputation of the British army, which for near a century had declined. 
It was novv ascertained that the English infantry could dispute the palm 
with the best in Europe." 

On the 2nd of August, Wellington prepared to march directly upon 
Madrid ; but at this moment he received intelligence that the three French 
marshals whom Joseph had so strenuously urged to press on to his support 
had, by advancing on an eccentric line — which they were enabled to do 
through the treachery or cowardice of the Spaniards, who deserted the 
pass of Puerto de Bancs without firing a shot — placed themselves in the 
rear of the British, and threatened their communications with Lisbon. 
Had the allied army, fifty thousand strong, consisted wholly of British 
soldiers, and could Wellington have relied on a junction and active co- 
operation with Venegas, who was pressing toward Madrid from the south, 
he might with great confidence have moved at once on the.Spanish capital. 
But he had already learned that his sole dependence in the field was his 



180!).] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 283 

oAvn army of twenty thousand men : the Spanish artillery was to a cer- 
tain degree effective and well served ; but the cavalry was wretched, 
and the infantry, though at times courageous in resisting a charge, was 
incapable of important manoeuvres under fire. In these circumstances, 
a prudent defensive policy alone promised a chance of success ; but this 
was precisely the system which the ignorance and presumption of the 
Spanish generals rendered them unable to adopt. Wellington, therefore, 
to avoid being attacked in front and rear at the same time, deemed it ne- 
cessary to divide the allied army ; and he offered Cuesta his option, to 
stay with the wounded at Talavera, or march against Soult. The Span- 
ish general preferred remaining where he was, and Wellington set out 
from Talavera on the 3rd of August with his entire army, excepting two 
thousand wounded whom he left in the hospital of that town under the 
protection of the Spanish troops. The English commander nevertheless 
had the mortification to learn, a few hours after his departure, that 
Cuesta had abandoned his post with all his forces, leaving nearly half the 
English wounded to their fate. At the same time, he ascertained that 
Soult, with thirty thousand men, was pressing on his communications at 
Naval Moral ; he therefore altered his route, defiled to the left over the 
bridge of Arsobizbo, and took up a defensive position on the Tagus, where 
he was immediately followed by Cuesta and his army, who dared not trust 
themselves out of the protection of the British soldiers. The French forces, 
joined by Soult and Mortier, now amounted to sixty thousand men ; but 
they were exhausted by the fatigues of a forced march, and as the object 
of their advance — the relief of Madrid — had been accomplished, they 
manifested no disposition to commence hostilities, and for a time a virtual 
suspension of arms took place in that quarter. Cuesta resigned his com- 
mand, and his army was divided, ten thousand being dispatched to reen- 
force Venegas, and twenty thousand remained in the neighborhood of the 
English army, in the mountains which separate the valley of the Tagus 
from that of the Guadiana. The French forces were also separated : 
Soult and Mortier occupied Talavera, Oropesa and Placencia ; Ney re- 
turned to Leon, and Joseph, with his guards, Dessolle's division and Se- 
bastiani's corps, marched against Venegas, whom he totally defeated at 
Almonacid. 

For nearly a month after Wellington's march to the southern bank of 
the Tagus, his army remained in undisturbed possession of their encamp- 
ment ; but during the same time, they suffered greatly for want of pro- 
visions, by reason of the entire failure of the Spaniards to perform their 
contract. Indeed, from the moment Wellington entered Spain, he expe- 
rienced the wide difference between the promises and performances of the 
Spanish authorities. They were willing to receive British aid in repelling 
their enemies, and freely offered the cooperation of their armies in such 
undertaking ; but when their soldiers encountered the Frenchmen, they 
fled from the field, and when their allies needed food, they left them to 
starve : thus throwing, and with deliberate purpose consenting to throw, 
the two- fold burden of war — its cost and its bloodshed — on the party who 
had no direct interest in its prosecution. 

These causes very naturally led to an estrangement, and at length to 
a positive animosity, between the officers and privates of the two armies ; 
and eventually, Wellington, finding all his remonstrances disregarded, 
gave orders for his troops to retire across the mountains into the valley 



284 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXXII. 

of the Guadiana, and he established his head-quarters at Badajoz on the 
29th of August, leaving Spain and her armies to their own protection. 

After Wellington had withdrawn to the western boundaries of Spain, 
the operations of the Spanish troops were for a time confined to a guerilla 
warfare, in which they gained considerable success ; and in fact, as the 
British commander had already advised them, that was the only method 
of defence which the native soldiers were competent to sustain. But the 
Spanish officers, gaining courage from such trifling advantages, soon 
abandoned the cautious policy in which alone their safety consisted, and 
assumed the offensive. A body of fifty thousand men assembled at Ocana, 
under the command of Areizaga, on the 12th of November. They were 
here confronted by thirty thousand French veterans under Soult, Mortier 
and Sebastiani. Nevertheless, the Spanish general, whose ignorance 
equalled his presumption, was nothing daunted, and he made his disposi- 
tions for the combat in a manner worthy of his military qualities. He 
placed the left wing behind a deep ravine, which it could not cross without 
falling into confusion, and the right wing in front of a similar ravine, 
while the centre occupied the space before Ocana : hence, one wing had 
no retreat in case of disaster, and the other could not attack the enemy 
even to insure success. Having thus disposed of his army, his next care 
was to find a suitable position for himself; and he made choice of one 
of the steeples of Ocana, in which he remained during the battle, but 
issued no orders for its conduct. The result of such an action hardly 
need be told. Four hours of fighting sufficed to place twenty thousand 
prisoners, fifty-five pieces of cannon, and all the ammunition, stores and 
baggage of the army in the hands of the French ; the remainder of the 
Spanish army was so totally dispersed that, ten days afterward, not a 
single battalion could be rallied to defend the passes of Sierra Morena. 
When the victors approached the town, Areizaga descended from his 
steeple and fled. 

This overwhelming defeat, together with some minor disasters which fol- 
lowed it, clearly proved that the Spaniards were incapable by themselves 
to maintain the war ; and as they could not be relied on to form a part 
in any combined system of operations, Wellington perceived that the pro- 
tection of Portugal must be his main object; and that if the deliverance 
of the Peninsula was ever effected, it must be done by troops who rested 
on the fulcrum of that kingdom. He therefore resolved to move his army 
from the banks of the Guadiana, where it had suffered great losses from 
the fevers incident to the climate, and take post in the frontier province 
of Beira, where the troops might recover their health and also guard the 
principal road to the Portuguese capital, leading from the centre of Spain. 
He accomplished this movement in the beginning of December, and en- 
camped his forces in the neighborhood of Almeida. 

These movements closed the campaign of 1809 in the Peninsula ; and 
in order to form an intelligent estimate of the relative merits of the British 
and French troops in the subsequent campaigns, the relative advantages 
and disadvantages under which the rival armies carried on the war, must 
be briefly considered. 

The British, in conformity to the established mode of civilized warfare 
in modern times, maintained themselves from magazines in their rear ; 
and, when compelled to depend on supplies from the provinces in which 
they were combating, they paid for them just as they would have done in 



1810.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 285 

their own country. It followed, therefore, that when the British troops 
advanced into the interior districts of the Peninsula, any considerable 
failure in their supplies, or any blow struck by the enemy at their com- 
munications, threatened them with total ruin. 

The French, on the other hand, fearlessly plunged into the most deso- 
late provinces, regardless of their flanks or rear ; and, without magazines 
or communications, they wrenched from the inhabitants supplies for a 
long period in a country where a British regiment could not, or rather 
would not, find subsistence for a single week. " The mode," says the 
Duke of Wellington, " in which they provide for their armies is this. 
They plunder everything they find in the country : they force from the 
inhabitants, under pain of death, all that they have in their houses for 
the consumption of the year, without payment, and are indifferent re- 
specting the consequences to the unfortunate people. Every article, 
whether of food or raiment, and every animal and vehicle of every de- 
scription, is considered to belong of right to the French army, and they 
require a communication with their rear only for the purpose of conveying 
intelligence and receiving orders from the Emperor." 

It is easy to see what immense advantages an army acting on these 
principles, must necessarily possess over another that conforms strictly 
to the rule of equity, and takes nothing from the inhabitants without re- 
turning a full equivalent. The one is always free in its movements, the 
other is often embarrassed and constantly in danger. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

EVENTS OF 1810 ; CAMPAIGN OF TORRES VEDRAS. 

The campaign of Wagram had, by its results, elevated Napoleon to 
the highest point of military and political greatness. Resistance seemed 
impossible against a power which had vanquished nearly all the armies 
of Europe, and contest hopeless with a state which had emerged victorious 
from eighteen years of warfare. 

What, then, was wanting to a sovereign surrounded with such glory 
and wielding such power ? Even this : historic descent and ancestral 
renown ; and for this one deficiency, all the achievements of Napoleon 
afibrded no adequate compensation. The present could not always fasci- 
nate mankind ; the splendor of existing fame could not entirely obliterate 
the remembrance of departed virtue : the rapid fall of preceding dynas- 
ties founded on individual greatness recurred in painful clearness to the 
mind ; and the truth was too obvious to be denied or overlooked, that in 
the next generation an infant of another race might successfully lay claim 
to the magnificent inheritance of the Empire. 

With these views, an heir to perpetuate his dynasty became a matter 
of paramount necessity to Napoleon ; and he had long meditated the di- 
vorce of Josephine, and a marriage with some princess who might bear 
children to succeed him. But he did not feel the unconcern so common 
to sovereigns in projecting this momentous separation. His union with 



286 HISTORY OFEU ROPE. [Chap. XXXIII. 

the Empress had not been founded on reasons of state, or contracted with 
a view to political aggrandizement. It was formed in early youth, based 
on romantic attachment, interwoven with all his fortunes, and associated 
with his most interesting recollections. Still, these feelings were, with 
Napoleon, subordinate to considerations of public policy ; and, whatever 
pain the severance of these ties might cost him, he did not for one moment 
swerve from the stern resolution he had adopted. The question, therefore, 
was debated in the Council of State as a matter of mere national expedi- 
ency, without the slightest regard to private inclinations or oppressed 
virtue. It was at length resolved to make advances to the courts both 
of St. Petersburg and Vienna ; and, without committing the Emperor 
positively to either, to be governed by the progress of events as to a final 
decision. 

Napoleon made this heart-rending communication to Josephine at Fon- 
tainebleau, in November, 1809, whither she had hastened to meet him, 
on his return from Wagram ; and though he at first received her with 
kindness, she was not long in perceiving, from the restraint and embar- 
rassment of his manner, that the blow which her observing mind had 
already led her to forebode, was in truth about to fall upon her. After 
fifteen days of painful suspense, her doubts and fears were brought to a 
conclusion on the 30th of November. The royal pair had, on that day, 
dined together as usual, but neither spoke a word during the repast; 
and, when it was finished. Napoleon dismissed the attendants, approached 
the Empress with a trembling step, took her hand and laid it on his heart, 
saying, " Josephine, my good Josephine, you know how I have loved you : it 
is to you alone that I owe the few moments of happiness I have had in the 
world. But, Josephine, my destiny is more powerful than my will : my 
dearest affections must yield to the interests of France." " Say no more," 
cried Josephine : "I expected this — I understand and feel for you — but — 
the stroke is not the less mortal." With these words, she uttered a pier- 
cing shriek and fainted away. 

A painful duty was now imposed on the persons concerned in this 
exalted drama — that of assigning their motives and playing their parts 
in its last scene before the great audience of the world. On the 15th of 
December, the kings, princes and princesses of the Imperial family were 
assembled in the Tuileries, and addressed first by Napoleon, who an- 
nounced his resolution and the motives which led to it. Josephine replied 
with a faltering voice and tears in her eyes, but in words worthy of the 
occasion. " I respond," said she, " to the Emperor's sentiments in con- 
senting to the dissolution of a marriage which has become an obstacle to 
the happiness of France. The union that he contemplates will in no 
respect change the feelings of my heart, and the Emperor will ever find 
in me his best friend. I know what this act, commanded by policy and 
exalted interests, has cost him ; but we both glory in the sacrifices which 
we make for the good of our country : I feel elevated by giving the 
greatest proof of attachment and devotion that was ever given upon 
earth." But, though Josephine used this language in public, she was 
far from feeling the same equanimity in her hours of retirement. She 
was constantly in tears, she appealed in vain to the Emperor and the 
pope for protection, and her grief was so violent and long continued, that 
for many months her eyesight became seriously impaired. 

The subsequent arrangements were rapidly completed. On the same 



1810.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 237 

day, the marriage was dissolved by an act of the Senate, the jointure of 
Josephine fixed at two millions of francs, and Malmaison assigned as her 
place of residence. Caulincourt and Maret were then instructed to make 
immediate proposals to the two courts of St. Petersburg and Vienna for 
an alliance. The former, in his negotiations with Russia, encountered 
delay and evasion ; but Maret's advances were promptly met by Austria. 
Preliminaries were soon adjusted. The marriage contract was signed at 
Paris on the 7th, and at Vienna on the 16th of February ; and on the 11th 
of March the marriage was celebrated at Vienna with great pomp : Ber- 
thier demanding the hand of the Archduchess Marie Louise, and the 
Archduke Charles standing proxy for Napoleon. On the day after the 
ceremony, the new Empress set out from Vienna, and was received at 
Braunau by the Queen of Naples. She there separated from her Aus- 
trian attendants, and continued her journey by short stages, surrounded 
by the pomp of splendor and the fatigues of etiquette, to the neighborhood 
of Paris. 

The matrimonial alliance of Napoleon was too important an element 
in the balance of European power, to be disposed of without producing 
deep impressions in the minds of those who might deem themselves 
slighted on the occasion. Alexander, though not anxious for the con- 
nexion, was piqued in no ordinary degree at the haste with which the 
marriage had been concluded, and he felt especially annoyed that the 
hand of his sister should have been in effect discarded, while the propo- 
sals for it were yet under consideration at St. Petersburg. The event 
confirmed the estrangement of feeling toward Napoleon which, on his 
part, had been some time increasing ; and this fact had an important 
bearing on the French Emperor's future career. 

Difficulties of some moment occurred about the same time between 
Napoleon and his brother Louis, King of Holland. He had long been 
dissatisfied with Louis's government of the Dutch provinces ; for that 
sovereign, sensible that the existence of his subjects depended on their 
commerce, had done all in his power to soften the hardships they endured, 
and purposely avoided enforcing the decrees against English trade with 
the rigor demanded by the Emperor. Napoleon resented this disregard 
of his orders by compelling Louis to cede to France the Dutch territories 
on the left bank of the Rhine, including Walcheren, South Beveland and 
Cadsand, which he formed into a new department styled the Mouth of the 
Scheldt. This exaction was followed by a series of indignities which at 
length induced the king to resign the crown in favor of his son. Napoleon 
Louis, after which he set out privately for Toplitz in Bohemia. His ab- 
dication took place on the 1st of July ; and on the 9th, Napoleon issued 
a decree incorporating the whole kingdom of Holland with the French 
Empire. 

The Emperor soon after came to an open rupture with his brother Lu- 
cien. The difficulty originated in the refusal of the latter to divorce his 
wife, an American lady, in order to wed a princess selected for him by 
Napoleon. He first removed to Rome ; but, being unable there to escape 
the tyrant's persecution, he set sail for America. A British frigate cap- 
tured his vessel on its voyage, and he was taken to Malta, but subse- 
quently liberated to reside on parole in the British dominions. Letters 
from Joseph were about the same time intercepted by the Spanish gue- 
rillas, complaining of the rigorous mandates he had received from the 



288 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXXIII. 

Emperor, and declaring a wish to resign his crown and retire to private 
life. Thus, while the Emperors of Russia and Austria were negotiating 
for the honor of Napoleon's hand, his own brothers preferred to take up 
their abode with his enemies rather than endure the tyranny of his im- 
perious temper. 

The alliance with Austria having relieved Napoleon from all apprehen- 
sion of Germanic interference, he determined to complete the subjugation 
of the Peninsula, and moved across the Pyrenees a large portion of the 
troops engaged in the campaign of Wagram. His entire forces amounted, 
early in the year, to three hundred and sixty-six thousand men. On the 
20th of January, an army sixty-five thousand strong, under the nominal 
command of Joseph, but really directed by Soult, commenced operations 
in Andalusia ; and the Spanish forces were so completely broken in that 
province, that the invaders readily made themselves masters of Granada, 
Seville and Malaga, within the space of a fortnight. Nothing now was 
necessary to bring the campaign to a close in this quarter but the capture 
of Cadiz; and Victor hastened on to secure that town. The Duke of Al- 
buquerque, however, aware of the vital importance of maintaining this 
place, pressed forward with nine thousand men to its relief; and, by 
forced marches, succeeded in reaching it before the French troops arrived. 
He immediately destroyed the bridge of Zuazo and put the fortifications 
and garrison into an effective condition, in which undertaking he was 
greatly aided by the English fleet in the bay, and by a reenforcement of 
five thousand British and Portuguese troops, dispatched to his aid by 
Wellington. These movements saved Cadiz : and as several members 
of the Central Junta had there taken refuge from the French pursuit, they 
now convened the legitimate government in a regular form, and continued 
to administer it, in this place of security, despite all the power of Napo- 
leon. When Soult ari'ived in front of Cadiz, he found that it was safe 
from all approaches but a regular siege, and he contented himself with 
establishing around it a rigid blockade. 

This conquest of the greater part of Andalusia, was fpllowed by similar 
success in Catalonia, where the French forces were commanded by Sa- 
chet and Augereau. The latter general did not, indeed, display his usual 
activity, and Napoleon was at length so dissatisfied with his progress that 
he sent Macdonald to supersede him ; but in the meantime Suchet had 
overrun the province and captured Hostalrich, Mequinenza and Lerida. 

The forces directed against Portugal, in May of this year, were very 
formidable. The three corps of Ney, Regnier and Junot, under the im- 
mediate command of Massena, amounted to eighty-six thousand veteran 
soldiers. A reserve of twenty-two thousand, under Drouet, lay at Valla- 
dolid ; and General Serras, with fifteen thousand, covered the right of the 
army toward Benevente and Leon. The rear and communications of the 
French troops were protected by Bessieres with twenty-six thousand men. 
To meet this great array, Wellington's entire strength did not exceed 
twenty-five thousand British soldiers and thirty thousand Portuguese 
reo^ulars, in addition to some thirty thousand native militia ; but the last 
of these were of no value in the field, and useful only in desultory opera- 
tions, while the Portuguese regulars were far inferior to both the British 
and French troops ; so that Wellington's efficient force could hardly be 
estimated at more than one third the strength of his opponents. Under 
these circumstances, the opening of the campaign was conducted on his 
part by strictly defensive operations. 



IfelO.] HISTORY OF EUROPE, 289 

Masseaa took command of his army on the first of June, and imme- 
diately invested the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo, which surrendered to his 
arms on the 10th of July, and on the 15th Almeida was also forced to 
capitulate. Wellington deliberately withdrew from these two fortresses 
as Massena advanced to besiege them, because he was not strong enouo^h 
to resist, in such positions, the whole French army, and because, in re- 
gard to Ciudad Rodrigo, his present duties required him not to relieve the 
towns of Spain, but to protect the territories of Portugal. 

Wellington therefore retreated down the valley of the Mondego, whither 
he was followed by Massena on the 21st of September ; but at length, 
finding that his men were losing courage under the influence of a con- 
tinued retrograde movement, and that the nature of the country offered 
more facilities for defence than the ground he had previously traversed, 
he took post at Busaco on the 26th, and determined to give battle to the 
French commander, 

Massena was not ignorant of the strength of Wellington's position or 
the danger of his own ; for while lying at the foot of the ridge of Busaco, 
he learned that Colonel Trant, commanding ten regiments of militia, had 
attacked his reserve artillery and military chest near Tojal, and captured 
the whole, together with eight hundred prisoners; and he learned, further, 
that his communications with the Spanish frontier were for the time cut 
off" by the Portuguese light troops. But Napoleon's orders were peremp- 
tory for his advance, and his situation was such that he must necessarily 
fight or retreat. He therefore commenced an assault at daybreak on the 
27th. The troops of the allied army lay, during the night, in dense 
masses on the summit of the mountains, and were not yet astir when 
Ney's column, twenty-five thousand strong, approached their left by the 
great road leading to the Convent, and Regnier moved against their right, 
about three miles distant, by St. Antonio de Cantara. Ney's corps first 
came into action under Loison, whose division formed the advanced guard 
of the attack. His men pushed bravely up the hill, despite the utmost 
efforts of Crawford's artillery, gained the edge of the mountain, and began 
to rend the air with their shouts, when Crawford ordered the 43rd and 
52nd regiments to charge from a hollow where they lay concealed. In 
a moment, eighteen hundred British bayonets sparkled over the crest of 
the hill ; Loison's soldiers wavered, their flanks were overlapped, and as 
the English infantry came to the charge, after pouring in upon them three 
terrible volleys at a few yards' distance, they broke and rushed headlong 
into the valley below. Regnier, on the British right, met with no better 
success. His troops at first gained the summit of the ridge in defiance 
of every attempt at resistance ; but when they began to deploy in order 
to make good their position, they were charged by Generals Leith and 
Picton with such impetuosity, that they fled in utter disorder and with 
great loss down the sides of the declivity, Massena, seeing at length that 
he could make no impression on Wellington's lines, drew off" his troops, 
after having sustained a loss of nearly two thousand killed and three 
thousand v\ ounded ; while the killed and wounded of the allies were 
scarcely thirteen hundred men. 

The French marshal, however, did not abandon his efforts, but resolved 

to undertaJce, by a flank movement, what an attack in front had failed to 

accomplish. He therefore, on the day following, moved by his own right 

through a pass i;i the mountains leading to Sardao, which brought him on 

K 



290 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXXIII. 

the road from Oporto to Coimbra and Lisbon. Wellington, without at- 
tempting to disturb him in this march, fell back to the lines of Torres 
Vedras, now completed and mounted with six hundred guns. Massena 
followed at a slower pace ; and, on the 7th of October, Trant, with the 
Portuguese militia, fell on his rear and took possession of Coimbra, where 
were about five thousand French soldiers, principally sick and wounded. 
But this disaster did not cause any change in Massena's dispositions : he 
pressed resolutely forward without regard to magazines or communica- 
tions, and on the 15th came in sight of Wellington's defensive position — 
an obstacle that he was previously unaware of, but which now rose before 
him to bar his further progress toward the Portuguese capital. 

The lines of Torres Vedras, on which the English engineers had been 
quietly engaged for more than a twelvemonth, consisted of three distinct 
rano-es of defence, one within another. The first was twenty-nine miles 
long, extending from Alhandra on the Tagus to Zezambre on the sea- 
coast. The second, about eight miles in the rear of the first, stretched 
from Quintella on the Tagus to the mouth of the St. Lorenza. The third 
reached from Passo d'Arcos on the Tagus to the Tower of Jonquera. 
Within this interior line, was an intrenched camp destined to cover an 
embarkation of the troops, should that measure become necessary. Of 
the three lines, the second was incomparably the strongest, and it was 
there that Wellington originally intended to make his stand ; but the first 
was so far completed by the time Massena reached it, that the English 
general resolved to undertake its defence. 

Massena, with all his resolution, paused at the sight of this formidable 
barrier, and employed several days in reconnoitering, while his troops 
were gradually collecting at the foot of the intrenchments ; but at length, 
being unable to find a single point where he could attack with a prospect 
of success, he sent General Foy under a strong escort to Paris, to ask in- 
structions from Napoleon. In the meantime, Wellington's army was well 
supplied with provisions and everything requisite for maintaining the war; 
but the French troops, isolated from their communications, and finding 
but little subsistence in the provinces they occupied, began to suflTer from 
famine ; and at length Massena, to escape utter starvation, was compelled, 
on the 14th of November, to abandon his position and commence a retreat. 
The moment intelligence reached the allied head-quarters that the 
French were in motion, Wellington ordered a pursuit, and detached Gen- 
eral Hill across the Tagus to move on Abrantes, while he himself led 
the bulk of the army on the great road by Cartaxo, toward Santarem. 
At 'this town, Massena made a halt, and took so strong a position that 
Wellington deemed it advisable not to attack him ; but he encamped in 
front of the French marshal's lines and narrowly watched his move- 
ments. It was soon ascertained that Massena intended to cross the Tagus 
and mjCtch into the rich province of Alentejo ; but General Hill's vigi- 
lance entirely frustrated this attempt ; and, after exhausting the country 
in which he lay, Massena, on the 2nd of March, 1811, broke up from his 
intrenchments and retreated toward Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo. 

While Wellington was thus gradually driving Massena from his footing 
in Portugal, Soult had made such progress in the south as to threaten the 
Brhish rear. On the 22nd of January, the latter general, leaving Victor 
to maintain the blockade of Cadiz, had advanced with twenty thousand 
men as far as the Spanish town of Badajoz, to which he laid siege. The 



1811.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 291 

ramparts of this fortress were of great strength, its garrison consisted of 
nine thousand men, and it was well supplied with ammunition and pro- 
visions, so that Soult had little hope of reducing it. But the treachery 
of Imaz, its governor, relieved him from all apprehension on that score ; 
and in a few days the place, with its magazines and artillery, was shame- 
fully surrendered to the French troops. Soult now seemed to be in a 
condition to act decisively on Wellington's communications ; but he had 
hardly secured this conquest, when he learned that Sir Thomas Graham, 
with a considerable force of Spanish and British troops, had planned an 
attack on the French blockading force at Cadiz. The English general 
reached the heights of Barrosa on the 5th of March, when Victor sallied 
from his lines to give battle. The French soldiers came on, as usual, in 
columns, and for a time carried everything before them ; but the obstinate 
valor of the British soon arrested their progress, and drove them back in 
confusion ; indeed, had La Pena, the commander of the Spanish troops on 
the field, seconded Graham's efforts, Victor must have been totally de- 
feated ; but that base Spaniard, like so many of his countrymen at this 
period, refused to act in concert with his allies in the very hour of vic- 
tory ; and Graham, disgusted at his detestable stupidity or cowardice, 
withdrew to the island of Leon, taking with him his own trophies, which 
consisted of six guns, one eagle and three hundred prisoners. This expe- 
dition caused Soult to hasten back to Cadiz, leaving Wellington to act 
without molestation on Massena's retreat. 

Massena was enabled by his great preponderance of numbers to perform 
this retrograde movement in good order. He took the route through the 
valley of the Mondego, and moved on gradually until he reached Colorico, 
on the 21st of March, where he proposed to make a stand. But Welling- 
ton's rapid approach induced him to abandon this project. He retreated 
thence upon Coa, threw a garrison into Almeida on the 5th of April, and 
the next day crossed the Portuguese frontier and proceeded to Salamanca. 
Nevertheless, although he thus made good his retreat, the losses of his 
expedition were enormous. He had marched into Portugal with seventy 
thousand men, and had been subsequently reenforced by nineteen thou- 
sand ; yet his numbers were so reduced by want, sickness and the sword, 
that he now entered Spain at the head of only forty-five thousand troops 
of all arms. 

Wellington immediately invested Almeida ; and as the French had 
gone into cantonments on the Tormes, he deemed it safe to send twenty- 
two thousand men to the south of the Tagus, to cooperate with the troops 
which Beresford had collected for the siege of Campo Mayor and Badajoz, 
and he repaired thither himself to conduct the operations. When Napo- 
leon heard of this division of the allied forces, he sent orders to Massena 
to return from Tormes and relieve Almeida ; and on the other hand, as 
soon as Wellington became aware of the French advance, he hastened 
from his head-quarters at Elva, and drew up his covering army, about 
thirty thousand strong, at Fuentes d'Onoro. 

An engagement between the outposts and skirmishers took place on the 
afternoon of May 3rd, but the entire forces did not come into action until 
the 4th, when the battle begun on the British right. The attack of the 
French was impetuous and well sustained ; the allies gave ground, and 
it was apparent that their right wing must soon be driven from the field 
unless they could gain a new defensive position. In this emergency, 
E2 



292 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXIII. 

Wellington drew back his whole centre and right, the left remaining 
firm, acting as the pivot on which the backward wheel was formed. 
Massena endeavored to take advantage of this delicate movement, so 
perilous in front of an army confident of victory, and he ordered the most 
desperate charges of his cavalry to break the British ranks. But despite 
the onset of the cuirassiers and dragoons, supported by a heavy train of 
artillery, the English soldiers retired with perfect regularity and gained 
the heights on the banks of the Coa. Massena made no attempt to dig- 
lodge this part of the army, but directed all his force against the British 
left. The Imperial Guard led the attack with levelled bayonets, but the 
Highland regiments met them in the charge with such surprising vehe- 
mence, that the front rank of the French veterans was literally raised 
from the ground and borne backward some paces while suspended on the 
Highland bayonets. The battle terminated with this repulse ; each party 
lost about fifteen hundred men, and each retained a portion of the field. 
Massena remained in his position for three days, and on the 9th, despair- 
ing of either forcing or turning the British lines, he left Almeida to its 
fate and retreated across the Agueda to Salamanca, while Wellington 
quietly took possession of the abandoned fortress. 

The reign of George III. was now drawing to a close. The health of 
the venerable monarch had for some time declined, owing in part to grief 
occasioned by the protracted illness of his daughter, the princess Amelia ; 
and when at length, on the 2nd of November, 1810, she breathed her last, 
the anguish of the king was so great as to produce a return of the alarming 
mental malady which, in 1788, had given such concern to the nation. 
Parliament met on the 1st of November, but deemed it advisable to 
adjourn from time to time, in expectation of the king's speedy recovery. 

This hope, however, at length vanished ; for the mental aberration of 
his majesty assumed a fixed character, and Mr. Perceval, on the 20th of 
December, brought forward in the House of Commons three propositions, 
based on Mr. Pitt's Regency Bill, to the following effect. " First. As the 
king is prevented by indisposition from attending to the public business, 
the personal exercise of the royal authority is suspended. Secondly. It is 
the right and duty of Parliament, as representing all the estates of the 
people of the realm, to provide the means of supplying the defect in such 
a manner as the exigency of the case may seem to them to require. 
Thirdly. For this purpose the Lords and Commons shall determine in what 
manner the royal assent must be given to bills which have passed both 
Houses of Parliament, and how the exercise of the powers and authori- 
ties of the crown shall be put in force during the continuance of the king's 
illness." The first proposition passed unanimously. The second, decla- 
ring the right of Parliament to supply the defect, was carried with but 
one dissenting voice, Sir Francis Burdett's. But on the third, which de- 
creed, in effect, that Parliament should appoint the individual who was 
to exercise the royal authority, the opposition took their stand. The de- 
bate occurred on an amendment of Mr. Ponsonby, proposing an address 
to the Prince of Wales, with a petition that he would take upon himself 
the royal functions. The appointment of the Prince of Wales, with the 
title of Prince Regent, was, however, finally decided in the House of 
Lords on the 29th of January, by a majority of eight votes. 

A negotiation for the exchange of prisoners was this year opened be- 
tween the governments of France and Great Britain, which resulted in 



1811.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 293 

nothing, by reason of Napoleon's unprecedented demands. Mr. Macken- 
zie, on behalf of Great Britain, proposed an even exchange for the na- 
tives of the two countrie-s, man for man, which was the only equitable 
basis : but when Napoleon discovered that fifty thousand Frenchmen 
were in bondage in England, whereas there were only ten thousand 
British subjects in France, he insisted, as a sine qua non in the transac- 
tion, that the remaining forty thousand should be supplied from the Spanish 
and Portuguese rabble, captured during the preceding campaigns in the 
Peninsula. As the effe^ct of this would have been to restore to the French 
army fifty thousand efficient troops, while England would gain but ten 
thousand ; and especially, as the balance of forty thousand Spanish and 
Portuguese could not in a national, political or military point of view be 
considered an equivalent to Great Britain for the same number of French 
captured by her arms in battle, the British government very properly 
declined to accede to Napoleon's demand, and the negotiation was ab- 
ruptly closed. 

The remaining memorable event of this year was the capture, by the 
British forces, of the Island of Java, the last colonial possession of the 
French Empire. This noble island, in itself a kingdom, is six hundred 
and forty miles long, from eighty to a hundred and forty broad, and con- 
tained more than two millions of inhabitants. Its annual production for 
export may be rated at one hundred and twenty million pounds of sugar, 
and five million pounds of pepper ; it furnishes, besides, rice and grain 
for the support of its inhabitants, and yields a lucrative commerce in nut- 
megs, cinnamon and other spices. The island surrendered to the land 
and naval force of Great Britain, on the 26th of September. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

PEOCEEDINGS OF THE CORTES; WAR IN SPAIN; CAMPAIGN OF 1811 ON 
THE PORTUGUESE FRONTIER. 

It was with feelings of unmingled admiration that the people of Europe 
beheld the able and energetic movements of the Duke of Albuquerque 
toward Cadiz, when he outstripped the celerity of the French legions and 
preserved the last bulwark of Spanish independence from the arms of the 
invader. The subsequent assembly of the Cortes within the impregnable 
ramparts of that city promised to give a unity to the Spanish operations, 
from the want of which they had hitherto so greatly suffered, at the same 
time that it presented a legitimate national authority with which other 
powers might treat in their negotiations for the furtherance of the com- 
mon cause. Yet from these very events, so fortunate at the moment and 
so apparently auspicious for the future, results have arisen deeply perni- 
cious to the welfare of the Spanish Peninsula. 

The Cortes, in the course of its proceedings in Cadiz, wrought an entire 

change, both in the character and policy of the government. The acts 

and spirit of its legislation were revolutionary in the highest degree ; 

and, after a long season of violent debate, the democratic party carried 

K3 



294 HISTORY OF EUROPE, [Chap. XXXIV. 

their own measures by a decided majority, and embodied them in a new 
Constitution, embracing the following provisions and enactments. It de- 
clared the Roman Catholic faith to be the religion of the state, the su- 
preme sovereignty to reside in the nation, and the supreme legislative 
power in the Cortes. That assembly assumed the exclusive right of 
voting taxes and levies of men ; of regulating the armed force ; of nomi- 
nating judges ; of creating a regency in case of a minority, incapacity, 
or other event suspensive of the succession ; of enforcing the responsible- 
ness of all public functionaries ; and of introducing and enacting laws. 
Durino- the intervals of the session, the Cortes was to be represented by a 
permanent commission or deputation, to which a considerable part of its 
power was committed. The person of the king was declared to be invio- 
lable, and his consent was requisite to the passing of laws ; but he could 
not withhold his consent more than twice to different legislatures ; and if a 
bill were presented him a third time, he was forced to give it his sanction. 
He was to hold the prerogative of pardon, but circumscribed within very 
narrow limits. He could conclude treaties and truces with foreign powers, 
but the consent of the Cortes was requisite to their ratification. He had 
command of the army, but the regulations for its government were to ema- 
nate still from the Cortes ; and he could nominate public functionaries, but 
only from lists furnished by that body. The king could not leave the king- 
dom nor marr}'' without the consent of the Cortes : if he did either, he was to 
be held as having abdicated the throne. For his assistance in discharging 
his public duties, he could appoint a privy council of forty members, se- 
lected from one hundred and tv/enty names presented by the Cortes ; but 
these councillors could not be removed except by that power, and in the 
whole number there could be only four grandees and four ecclesiastics. 
In short, all appointments made by the king were to be under the dicta- 
tion of the Cortes. By a subsequent provision it was decreed that the 
assembly should sit, as then constituted, in a single chamber : and for 
future elections there was to be one member to every seventy thousand 
inhabitants, and every man over the age of five-and-twenty, a native of 
the province, or who had resided in it for seven years, was entitled alike 
to elect or be elected. 

This Constitution was approved by some and detested by other portions 
of the inhabitants. In the principal towns, especially those devoted to 
commerce, the enthusiasm of the people on this great accession of power, 
was loudly and sincerely expressed : while in the lesser boroughs and in 
the rural districts, where revolutionary ideas had not spread and the an- 
cient faith and loyalty remained uncorrupted, it was the object of un- 
qualified denunciation. Wellington, from the first, clearly perceived and 
loudlv condemned the pernicious tendency of these measures, not merely 
because they diverted the attention of the government from the national 
defence, but because they tended to establish democratic principles and 
republican institutions in a country wholly unfitted to receive them, and 
because they would sow the seeds of future and interminable discord 
throughout the Spanish monarchy. His opinions, little heeded at that time, 
l)y reason of the absorbing interest of the contest with Napoleon, have now 
acquired an extraordinary interest from the exact and melancholy ac- 
complishment that subsequent events have given to his predictions. 

In the meantime, so completely did hostilities seem to be concluded 
south of the Sierra Morena, Joseph Bonaparte crossed that formidable 



1811,] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 295 

barrier ; entered Seville amid the acclamations of the higher classes of 
the citizens, who were fatigued with the war and hopeless of its success ; 
received from the civic authorities of the town the standards taken at the 
battle of Baylen ; and accepted the services of a royal guard raised for 
him in the southern provinces. The benevolent monarch, deceived by 
these flattering appearances, indulged the hope that his difficulties were 
at an end. 

But although Joseph, for a brief period, gave way to this pleasing illu- 
sion, he was not long in being awakened from it by the acts of Napoleon. 
Early in February, the French Emperor issued a decree organizing into 
four distinct governments the provinces of Catalonia, Aragon, Biscay and 
Navarre, and charging the military governor of each, with the entire 
direction of its affairs. His purpose in this measure was thus explained 
in a letter to the French ambassador at Madrid. " The intention of the 
Emperor is to unite to France the whole left bank of the Ebro, and per- 
haps the territory extending as far as the Duoro. One of the objects of 
the present decree is to prepare for that annexation ; and you will take 
care, without letting fall a hint of the Emperor's designs, to pave the 
way for such change, and facilitate all the measures which his majesty 
may take to carry it into execution." Thus, Napoleon, after having 
solemnly guarantied the integrity of Spain, first by the treaty of Fon- 
tainebleau to Ferdinand, and again by that of Bayonne, to Joseph, was 
now preparing, in violation of both engagements, to seize a large part of 
the Spanish Peninsula. 

Notwithstanding the Emperor's precautions in regard to his ulterior 
purposes, Joseph soon took the alarm, and endeavored to protect himself 
against his brother's encroachments. But after a tedious negotiation, 
during which Napoleon created two additional military governments 
north of the Duoro, Joseph became convinced of the incorrigible perfidy 
of the Emperor — which destroyed all confidence and all ground of con- 
fidence both in his faith and honor, as well as in his written and spoken 
words, however solemnly pledged — and, drawing up a formal resigna- 
tion of the throne, he hastened to Paris and delivered the document per- 
sonally to Napoleon, who was greatly embarrassed at this sudden and en- 
ergetic proceeding. The Emperor exerted himself to the utmost to in- 
duce Joseph to withdraw his resignation and return to Madrid ; and his 
efforts were at last successful. The King of Spain repaired again to his 
capital on the 14th of July, 1811, trusting once more to the promises of 
Napoleon, and, it is almost unnecessary to add, finding himself in the end 
as grossly deceived as ever. 

While Soult and Victor were occupied with the blockade of Cadiz, 
and were constructing in front of that city lines of intrenchments which 
seemed to forbid the hope that the garrison could ever escape, unless by 
sea ; Suchet commenced decisive operations in the east of Spain, supported 
by a covering army under Macdonald. The Spanish forces in Catalonia 
under O'Donnell and Campoverde, were more than twenty thousand 
strong, but they were scattered in detached parties among the mountains 
and defiles of that province, and, speaking generally, were in a condition 
only for guerilla enterprises. Early in September, however, O'Donnell 
secretly planned an attack on some detachments of French troops on the 
Ampurdan, and, by a judicious combination, he managed to surprise a 
considerable force, and took fifteen hundred prisoners. Macdonald was 



296 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXXIV. 

so annoyied at this manoeuvre, that he resolved to avenge it by a move- 
ment against Cordova, where Campoverde had stationed himself with the 
greater part of his men. The^ French marshal assailed the position of 
Campoverde on the 21st of October, but he was unable to make the 
slightest impression on the Spanish lines, and withdrew with some loss 
to Gerona. 

Suchet commenced his operations in September, by the siege of Tor- 
tosa, which lies at the mouth of the Ebro, and in part rests on a ridge 
of rocky heights that approach closely to the river. The garrison con- 
sisted of eight thousand men, and the population of the town amounted to 
ten thousand. Had the governor been a man worthy of the trust reposed 
in him, Tortosa might at least have sustained a long siege; but, owing 
to his want of energy and the extraordinary vigor with which Suchet 
pressed the attack, it yielded to the French arms on the 2nd of January, 
1811. 

After the fall of Tortosa, Suchet was for some months absorbed in pre- 
parations for one of the most arduous undertakings in the Peninsula; 
namely, the siege of Taragona; and while his attention was by this 
means withdrawn from the scene of his late victory, one of Campoverde's 
generals, named Martinez, made a sudden attack on the town and fortress 
of Figueras. This bold manoeuvre was undertaken on the night of the 
9th of April, and was so heartily aided by the citizens, that the place 
was carried with a loss to the victors of only thirty men, killed and 
wounded. About the same time, Macdonald marched from Lerida for 
Barcelona by the circuitous route of Manresa. The bridge at this point 
was bravely defended by a few Spanish soldiers, but the French troops 
finally routed them and entered the town without further opposition. 
When they had passed through, the rear-guard, with surprising barbarity, 
set fire to the town and soon reduced seven hundred houses to ashes, 
among which were two orphan-hospitals and several other noble estab- 
lishments of industry and benevolence. Macdonald, who witnessed the 
conflagration from the heights of Culla, made no attempt to extinguish 
the flames, but resumed his march the next day, leaving the smoking 
ruins to show where a French army had taken its line of march. This 
outrage was to a certain extent avenged by the inhabitants of the sur- 
rounding country, who assailed the retiring columns in the defiles beyond 
Manresa, and slew upward of a thousand men. The war thereafter 
assumed a more savage character, and the Spanish generals directed that 
no quarter should be granted to French troops found in the vicinity of 
any town or village given over to the flames. 

Taragona is built in the form of a rectangular parallelogram, the 
northern part of which is perched on a rocky eminence having its eastern 
base washed by the waves of the Mediterranean. The lower town lies 
at the southwest, on the banks of the Francoli. The number of inhabit- 
ants was about eleven thousand, and the garrison did not exceed six 
thousand men. The principal defence on the northeast, consisted in a 
line of redoubts connected by a curtain, with a ditch and covered way 
running from the sea to the rocks on which the upper town is built. The 
approach to the city on the southeast is entirely flat, and protected by a 
chain of strong foitifications including a stronghold called Fort Royal. 
The upper and lower town were separated by a rampart joining with 
Fort Olivo. a large outwork on the rocky heights. The place, in a 



1811.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 297 

general sense, was strong, but by no means impregnable ; and its defences 
were somewhat aided by three British ships of the line under Commodore 
Codrington, which lay at anchor in the bay. 

Suchet made his first serious attack against the southern front of the 
lower town ; when, finding his men severely galled by the fire of Fort 
Olivo, he resolved to storm that formidable post. The assault was made 
on the 29th of May, in two columns, and, after a desperate resistance, 
the garrison yielded to the impetuosity of the French troops. This con- 
quest was followed by preparations for an assault on the lower town, 
which were completed by the 21st of June, when Suchet ordered the 
attack at seven o'clock at night. A terrible contest ensued, but the be- 
siegers were at length victorious, aftd carried both the town and Fort 
Royal amid all the horrors of massacre and conflagration. The hopes 
of Taragona were now centred in the infuriated multitude who crowded 
the walls of the upper town, which Suchet prepared to storm on the 29th 
of June. The conflict here was more desperate and bloody than at any 
other period of the siege ; but the slender garrison that remained could 
make no effectual resistance against the overwhelming numbers of the 
besieging force, and this last stronghold in Catalonia fell into the hands 
of the French troops. Suchet disgraced his victory by another of those 
atrocious massacres which marked the bloody career of the French 
armies in the Peninsula, and which must ever call down the execration 
of mankind on the blood-thirsty tyrant who projected this war, as well as 
on the ferocious generals and the brutal soldiery by whom it was main- 
tained. After the town had surrendered, these demons were let loose 
upon the defenceless inhabitants, and no less than six thousand men, 
women and children were butchered within the space of a few hours. 

Suchet next invaded the province of Valencia, and laid siege to Sagun- 
tum ; a fortress of great strength, perched on the summit of a rock that 
is perpendicular on three sides, and accessible from the west only by a 
steep and devious road. The investment of the place was completed on 
the 28th of September, and an assault, on that day, was repulsed with 
great loss to the besiegers. A second attempt to carry the town by storm 
was made on the 18th of October, when the leading columns, after being 
driven in disorder from the breach, were reenforced by eight thousand 
grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, whose charge was generally deemed 
irresistible. These redoubtable soldiers gained the breach without fal- 
tering for an instant, but as soon as they mounted it, the fire of the Span- 
ish infantry, concentrated on them at half-pistol shot, swept down their 
ranks with an astounding slaughter and forced them, after a brief strug- 
gle, to retreat to the foot of the hill with a loss of half of their numbers. 
On the 24th of October, Blake advanced to the relief of Saguntum at the 
head of an ill-organized army of twenty-five thousand men. Suchet 
marched with great alacrity to meet him ; and, although, considering the 
character of the Spanish troops, it was idle to hope for their gaining a 
victory over the veterans of France, they withstood Suchet's assaults 
with lieroic valor, and retreated from the field after sustaining the com- 
paratively small loss of three thousand five hundred men in killed, 
wounded and prisoners. The garrison of Saguntum, despairing now of 
relief, and being threatened with famine from the close blockade main- 
tained by Suchet, capitulated on the 26th of October. 

The French commander remained for a time at Saguntum, to collect 



298 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXIV. 

reenforcements from Macdonald's covering army ; and in the beginning 
of December, having raised his numbers to thirty-three thousand effective 
troops, he marched upon the city of Valencia, and commenced the siege 
of that capital on the 26th. The place was neither strongly fortified nor 
powerfully garrisoned ; and, after a partial bombardment, its governor 
surrendered at discretion on the 9th of January, 1812. But this con- 
(juest, though thus easily achieved, was not the less important, as it 
made the French masters of all that portion of the Peninsula, and placed 
in their hands an immense quantity of artillery and military stores. 

When the retreat of Massena from Torres Vedras had delivered that 
part of Portugal from the Imperial yoke, and the battle of Fuentes d'- 
Onoro had destroyed the French mafthal's hope of retaining a permanent 
footing within the Portuguese frontier, Wellington turned his attention 
toward Badajoz. This fortress, though not occupying a conspicuous 
rank in regard to wealth or population, was, from its great strength and 
central position, of the highest consequence to each of the contending 
parties : as it formed at once a base for the operations of an invading 
army on the most defenceless side of the Portuguese capital, and the 
strongest link in the iron girdle, which was intended to restrain the 
Britisli troops from advancing into the Spanish territories. Therefore, 
while Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz remained in the hands of the French, 
it was impossible for Wellington to feel assured of the safety of Portugal, 
or to undertake any serious enterprise for the deliverance of Spain. He 
accordingly resolved to lay siege to Badajoz, and in the middle of May, 
1811, moved his head-quarters to Estremadura, and dispatched twelve 
thousand men to reenforce General Beresford, who had already begun 
offensive operations in the designated quarter. 

When Soult learned that Beresford was threatening Badajoz, and that 
Wellington had resolved on besieging it, he advanced immediately to its 
relief at the head of twenty-three thousand men. As he reached the 
heights in front of Albuera, he found Beresford posted at that place with 
an army thirty-one thousand in numbers, but composed of sixteen thou- 
sand Spanish, eight thousand Portuguese, and only seven thousand British 
soldiers ; so that the preponderance of real strength was clearly on the 
side of the French marshal. Soult determined to attack the allies in this 
position, and he began the action early on the morning of May 16th, by 
an impetuous assault on their right wing, which consisted entirely of 
Spanish troops under Blake. The Spaniards stood their ground bravely 
for a time, but the superior prowess of the French veterans at length 
overcame all their efforts; they were totally overthrown, and the French, 
taking possession of the heights where they were posted, commanded the 
whole field with a battery of heavy guns. 

The day now seemed lost to the allies. But Beresford, with undaunted 
resolution, ordered up the British divisions from the centre to regain the 
ground lost on the right. General Stewart led the column of attacJv 
against the heights; and, after finding that the French ranks could not 
!»fi shaken by musketry, he commanded his men to charge with their 
baj^oncts. But while they were deploying for that purpose, three regi- 
ments of hussars and Polish lancers, which had taken advantage of a 
thick mist to gain their flank unperceived, fell on them with great spirit, 
destroyed one battalion and drove back another, while the tJiird remained 
isolated on the heiiihts in the midst of its enemies. Reenforcements were 



1811.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 299 

speedily moved forward to support this detachment; Dickson's artillery 
covered the advance, and Houghton's brigade soon established itself 
on the heights: Abercromby followed with a second division, and these 
were presently joined by Lumley's horse-artillery and two columns of 
Spanish troops. The battle was thus to a certain degree restored ; but 
the superior numbers of the French began gradually to tell in their favor, 
and Beresford made preparations for a retreat. 

In this extremity, the firmness of one man changed the fate of the day. 
While Beresford was issuing orders to withdraw from the field. Sir Henry 
Hardinge took on himself the risk of one more throw for victory. He di- 
rected Generals Cole and Abercromby to charge, severally, with their 
divisions, on the right and left of the French, who were now advancing in 
one deep column to drive the allies down the declivity of the mountain. 
This order was promptly obeyed, and the men moved resolutely forward 
to encounter thrice their numbers of the bravest troops of France. At 
first, they were staggered by the enemy's fire ; " Suddenly recovering, 
however," says Colonel Napier, in his brilliant History of the Peninsular 
War, " they closed on their terrible enemy ; and then was seen with 
what strength and majesty the British soldier fights. In vain did Soult, by 
voice and gesture, animate his Frenchmen ; in vain did the hardiest ve- 
terans, extricating themselves from the crowded column, sacrifice their 
lives to gain time and space for the mass to open out on such a fair field ; 
in vain did the mass itself bear up, and fiercely striving, fire indiscrim- 
inately on friends and foes, while the horsemen hovering on the flanks, 
threatened to charge the advancing line. Nothing could stop that aston- 
ishing infantry. No sudden burst of undisciplined valor, no nervous en- 
thusiasm, weakening the stability of their order : their eyes were bent on 
the dark column in their front ; their measured tread shook the ground ; 
their dreadful volleys swept away the head of every formation ; their 
deafening shouts overpowered the dissonant cries that broke from all 
parts of the tumultuous crowd, as, foot by foot, and with a horrid carnage, 
it was driven by the incessant vigor of the attack to the farthest edge of 
the hill. In vain did the French reserves, joining with the struggling 
multitude, endeavor to sustain the fight : their efforts only increased the 
irremediable confusion ; and the mighty mass, at length giving way like 
a loosened cliff", went headlong down the descent. The rain flowed after 
them in streams discolored with blood ; and fifteen hundred unwounded 
men, the remnant of six thousand unconquerable British soldiers, stood 
triumphant on the fatal hill." 

Beresford, seeing the heights thus gloriously won, immediately pre- 
pared to secure the victory ; and, so utter was the confusion of the greater 
portion of Soult's army, his force would have been totally destroyed, had 
not Ruty stood gallantly forth in the rear with his artillery, and, by an 
admirably sustained fire, checked the pursuit until the disordered masses 
had gained the shelter of the forest beyond the heights. At length, this 
sanguinary contest died away on both sides, rather from the exhaustion 
of the victors than from any further means of resistance, save in their ar- 
tillery, on the part of the vanquished. On the night following the battle, 
Soult retreated toward Seville, leaving the allies for a time to prosecute 
the siege of Badajoz without further molestation. 

On the 23rd of May, Wellington arrived to take command of the army, 
and he pressed the siege of Badajoz wiih all his energy. By the 27th, 



300 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXIV. 

the place was fully invested, and on the 29th the besiegers made an as- 
sault on Fort Christoval, which, however, was repulsed by the garrison. 
Indeed, the fortune of war had decreed that Badajoz should not yet be 
delivered from the invader's grasp. Napoleon, as conscious as Welling- 
ton of the value of this fortress, had sent orders for extensive preparations 
to raise the siege ; and, in fact, for the ulterior purpose of preventing 
Wellington's advance into Spain, he at this time reorganized his military 
establishment throughout that whole kingdom. The unserviceable and 
unimportant fortresses were dismantled and evacuated ; those of conse- 
quence were strengthened in their works and garrisons ; magazines of 
provisions and military stores were accumulated at various points ; and, 
for the first time during the war, a considerable sum of money, amount- 
ing in all to forty millions of francs, was forwarded from Paris for the 
use of the troops. At the same time, Marmont was ordered to collect his 
forces and cooperate with Soult for the relief of Badajoz ; and as this com- 
bination, when completed, would place sixty-five thousand men at Soult's 
disposal, against whom Wellington could not array more than forty-five 
thousand including all the Spanish and Portuguese troops, it became in- 
dispensable to raise the siege of Badajoz, which event took place on the 
10th and 11th of June. On the 28th of the same month, Soult and Mar- 
mont eflfected the junction of their corps at that place. 

Soult, after remaining a few days at Badajoz, and putting it in a more 
perfect state of defence, withdrew again toward Seville, and Marmont fell 
back upon Talavera ; while Wellington, who saw that any further at- 
tempt on Badajoz would be useless, while such powerful armies were at 
hand to relieve it, planned an attack onCiudad Rodrigo and moved north- 
wardly to accomplish that undertaking. His preparations were made 
with great skill and profound secrecy ; and for a time seemed to promise 
success. But the delay that occurred in transporting his heavy artillery, 
eventually caused the discovery of his purpose, and Marmont, with sixty 
thousand men, hastened down the valley of the Tagus to oppose him. 
This movement prevented Wellington from prosecuting the siege, yet the 
approximation of two powerful armies led to the belief that a pitched bat- 
tle would immediately take place. But Wellington's inferiority of num. 
bers was a sufficient reason for his not assuming the offensive ; and, as 
Marmont failed to attack, the crisis passed over without any momentous 
occurrence. Some changes of position and some hostile demonstrations 
followed, but at length the armies both withdrew, and went into canton- 
ments toward the end of September. 

This concluded the campaign of 1811, so far as the operations of the 
principal armies were concerned, though some affairs of relative import- 
ance occurred between detached bodies of the contending powers. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Wellington's invasion of spain, 1812. 

In the month of December, 1811, the French armies, m order to estab- 
lish eligible winter-quarters and canton themselves in districts where 
provisions might more readily be obtained, were so scattered through the 
regions of the Upper Tagus and the Duoro, that Ciudad Rodrigo was for 
the time entirely abandoned to its own resources, and Wellington took 
advantage of this posture of affairs to renew his attempts on that fortress. 
To conceal his design, he ordered Hill to assume the offensive in Estre- 
madura ; and that enterprising officer discharged this duty so effectually 
that Soult, believing that the siege of Badajoz was about to be undertaken, 
directed all his forces throughout Andalusia to concentrate in that quar- 
ter, at the very moment when Wellington was completing his final pre- 
parations against Ciudad Rodrigo. 

On the 8th of January, 1812, the British light divisions crossed the 
Agueda and commenced the investment of the fortress ; in the evening of 
that day, they carried by assault an advanced redoubt on the great Teson, 
and, on the day following, established the first parallel : on the 13th, the 
accumulation of forces enabled the besiegers to storm the Convent of 
Santa Cruz. The garrison, alarmed at this rapid progress, made a vigor- 
ous sortie on the 14th of January, but without seriously retarding the 
approaches ; on the same afternoon the besieging batteries were opened, 
and at night the fortified Convent of San Francesco, which flanked the 
right of the trenches, was carried by a gallant escalade of the 46th regi- 
ment. For three days the breaching batteries played on the ramparts 
with the most destructive effect, while the cannon of the town replied with 
unabated spirit ; and on the 18th, two breaches having been declared 
practicable, Wellington summoned the place. The governor refused to 
surrender, and preparations were immediately made for the assault. 

The perilous honor of this attack fell on the divisions of Generals 
McKiimon and Vandeleur, whose turn of duty placed them on that day in 
the trenches. The stoi-ming parties received orders not to fire a shot, but 
push on with the bayonet ; the bearers of the sand-bags, ladders, and other 
engines of assault were not even armed, lest any irregular skirmish should 
interfere with their particular duties in smoothing the way for the other 
troops. The preparations of the garrison, however, were very formida- 
ble: bombs and hand-grenades, ready to be rolled down on the assailants, 
lined the top of the breaches ; bags of powder were disposed among the 
ruins to explode when the besiegers began to ascend the slopes ; two 
heavy guns, charged with grape, flanked the summit of the larger breach, 
and a mine was prepared under it, to be fired if the other defences failed. 
But all these obstacles failed to daunt the British troops, and the last words 
of Wellington's orders for the day breathed the spirit of the whole army: 
" Ciudad Rodrigo must be carried by assault this evening at seven o'clock." 

The evening was clear and tranquil ; and the moon, in her first quar- 
ter, diffused a doubtful light which, without disclosing particular objects, 
rendered their rude outlines distinctly visible. The projecting bastions 



302 HISTORYOFEUROP#, [Chap. XXXV 

stood forth like giants in the gloom, darkly, yet clearly defined on the ad- 
joining shadows ; while in their sides, yawning gulfs half filled with ruins, 
showed where the breaches had been made and the deadly strife was to 
take place. The trenches of the besiegers were crowded with armed 
men, among whom not a whisper could be heard nor a movement seen ; 
so completely had discipline and the absorbing anxiety of the moment 
subdued every unruly feeling and stilled every dauntless heart. As the 
great clock of the cathedral tolled seven, the word passed softly along that 
all was ready ; when the men leaped from their trenches and rushed for- 
ward to the storm, led by their respective forlorn hopes. The garrison 
bravely disputed every inch of ground, but the besiegers, with a steady 
progress, and in despite of a murderous fire from all points of the ram- 
parts, carried everything before them, and, not long after midnight, the 
fortress was in the undisputed possession of the allies. 

The disorder and outrage, which to a certain extent are inseparable 
from the successful storming of a town, followed the capture of Ciudad 
Rodrigo; but there was this essential difference between the excesses 
committed, on such occasions, by the British and the French troops. 
The latter, with deliberate purpose and express permission, added to 
their pillage and rapine, the horrors of an indiscriminate violation and 
massacre in cold blood ; the former, yielding to their national vice, 
intemperance, broke open every receptacle of liquors and wines, in defi- 
ance of the strictest commands of their otficers, and, under the excite- 
ment of intoxication, pillaged churches and set houses on fire : but this 
was done only in a limited degree ; the more orderly troops exerted 
themselves successfully to arrest the progress of the flames, and not one 
unresisting citizen of whatever age or condition was slain. 

When Wellington had repaired the defences of Ciudad Rodrigo, he, 
with great dispatch and secrecy, undertook a similar expedition against 
Badajoz, which place he completely invested by the 17th of March ; and, 
in this case, as in the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, he so effectually concealed 
his intentions by threatening movements in other quarters, that the cover- 
ing forces of Soult and Marmont were wholly withdrawn from that vicinity 
when he commenced the siege. The approaches were at first delayed 
by a storm of rain, which continued for some days, and so saturated the 
ground that it could not be cut into any regular form ; but on the 25th, 
the breaching batteries were opened on an outwork called Fort Picurina, 
and the storming party, following up the devastation made by the heavy 
guns, carried this post the same evening. The cannon were now advanced 
to the fort, and commenced their fire directly on the ramparts of the town. 
After a cannonade of five days, three breaches were efiected and declared 
practicable, and a strong force, divided into several columns, commenced 
the assault. The besiegers made their onset with desperate fury ; but 
the governor, Philippon, was so well prepared for thi^ir reception, that, 
after a struggle unparalleled for its obstinacy and slaughter, Wellington 
was forced to recall the divisions, and prepare for a new attack. No less 
than two thousand men had fallen in and around the breaches. 

While this tremendous conflict was in progress, Picton had led his 
division around to the foot of the rocks on which stood the castle, at an 
elevation of more than a hundred feet from the level of the Guadiana ; 
and he proposed, while the attention of the garrison was drawn to the 
assault at the breaches, to scale the rocks and make himself master of 



1812.] HI'STORYOFEUROPE. 303 

this strongholf] in the rear. His advance, however, was discovered, 
and he had not only to scale a precipice, but also to contend against 
every description of missile, combined with a storm of musketry, in his 
ascent. His troops were at first so completely swept off by these various 
projectiles, that, at three several times, not one man remained on the lad- 
ders : but he still persevered, and at length, in defiance of every impedi- 
ment, his grenadiers gained the summit of the rocks, forced the castle, and 
firmly established themselves within its walls. About the same time, 
Walker made a successful attempt to escalade the bastion of San Vin- 
cente ; his whole brigade carried that post by storm, and Philippon, 
seeing that further resistance was unavailing, surrendered at discretion. 

By the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, Wellington gained 
possession of three hundred and twenty pieces of heavy artillery, five 
thousand prisoners, and an immense quantity of military stores ; but, 
what was of far more importance, he had also gained the mastery over 
the French generals ; their two border-fortresses, alike a barrier for 
defensive, and a base for offensive operations, were reduced, and a path 
into the heart of Spain lay open to the British army. The ungovernable 
wrath of Napoleon, which was poured on the heads of his marshals when 
he heard of these disasters, caused a mutual irritation and a disunion of 
purpose, that had a sinister influence on the French operations during the 
remainder of the war. 

These two victories loosened the whole fabric of the French power in 
Spain, and Wellington now hesitated whether to deliver his next blow 
against Marmont in the north, or Jourdan in the centre of that kingdom. 
He finally decided that, as the vital point was on the line of communi- 
cation between Bayonne and Madrid, his wiser course would be to move 
against Marmont ; and he immediately commenced preparations for this 
expedition. His first care was to recruit and reorganize his army, which 
had suffered severely by fatigue, disease and the sword ; his next, to put 
the newly captured fortresses into a complete state of defence, by repair- 
ing their fortifications, strengthening their garrisons, and supplying their 
magazines. 

At length, all things being in readiness, he crossed the Agueda on the 
13th of June ; on the 17th, he reached Salamanca, and passed over the 
Tormes in four columns by the fords of Santa Martha and Los Cantos. 
Marmont retired as the British commander advanced, after throwing gar- 
risons into the forts of Salamanca and the castle of Alba de Tormes. 
Then was seen the profound hatred which the Spaniards entertained to- 
ward their Gallic oppressors, and the vast amount of injury which they 
had sustained at their hands. Salamanca instantly became one scene of 
rejoicing. The houses were illuminated, the people alternately sang and 
wept for joy, and the British army, passing in triumph through the shout- 
ing crowd, took post on the hill of San Christoval, about three miles beyond 
the town. It is no wonder that the inhabitants evinced such joy at their 
deliverance from a bondage of four years. Independent of innumerable 
acts of extortion and oppression, the French had destroyed thirteen of 
twenty-five convents, and twenty-two of twenty-five colleges in that cele- 
brated seat of learning ; the stones of which edifices were built up into 
three forts, that now, in a military point of view, constituted the strength 
of the place. 

Wellington presently directed his attention to the capture of these 



304 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXXV. 

forts, which were reduced on the 27th of June, after a brave defence by 
their several garrisons. When the forts surrendered, Marmont, who had 
advanced with his whole force to their relief, withdrew behind the Duoro, 
and occupied the fortified bridges of Zamora, Toro, and Tordesillas, 
which commanded the principal passages of that river. Wellington pur- 
sued the French army as far as the southern bank of the Duoro, and made 
preparations for crossing, but he found the French position so strong, that 
he abandoned his design ; and as, in the meantime, Marmont had received 
large recnforcements, and was now evidently taking measures to cut off 
his communications with Salamanca, the British general deemed it advi- 
sable to fall back to his original position in front of that city. Marmont 
followed this retrograde movement on a line parallel to Wellington's 
route, and for two days the hostile columns marched not only in siglit, but 
within half musket shot of each other; yet the respective forces were so 
perfectly disciplined, that, during this novel and exciting proximity, every 
evolution was performed with field-day precision ; and they were, be- 
sides, so nearly matched in strength, that neither general was disposed to 
commence an attack, until some contingency should enable him to do so 
with advantage. 

As the two armies approached Salamanca, on the 20th of July, Wel- 
lington took post on his old ground, the heights of San Christoval ; while 
Marmont extended his left wing toward the great road which leads to 
Ciudad Rodrigo. But the British general soon found good cause for re- 
treat, as Jourdan was rapidly approaching to form a junction with Mar- 
mont, which would raise the French forces to nearly seventy thousand 
men. He therefore changed his position to the ground extending from 
two rocky heights, called the Arapeiles, to the Tormes below the fords of 
Santa Martha. At this juncture, Marmont took a step that arrested the 
allies' retreat. He considered that Jourdan, being the senior marshal, 
would on his arrival supersede him in the command, and bear oft' the glory 
of a victory: moreover, he was induced by Wellington's apparent readi- 
ness to retreat, to underrate the qualities of that general, and he argued 
that it v/ould be far better for him to reap the triumph which his own skil- 
ful manoeuvres had already prepared, than yield the bright rewards of his 
toil to a rival. He therefore resolved to attack the allied forces without 
further delay ; and, with this view, observing that Wellington had not 
yet taken possession of the two heights of the Arapeiles, he pushed for- 
ward a body of infantry, through a wood, and gained one of them without 
opposition, which at once placed him on the flank of the allied lines. He 
then ordered a detachment to occupy the adjoining height ; but the British, 
who were unprepared for the first movement, anticipated him in this, and 
covered the post whh a force sufficient to maintain it. 

Nevertheless, the acquisition by the French of the more distant Ara- 
iieiles, rendered another change of position necessary on the part of the 
allies ; and, while this was in progress, Marmont, conceiving that Wel- 
lington had begun a retreat from the field, threw forward his left wing 
under Thomiere with such imprudent haste as to separate it from the re- 
quisite support of the centre. The instant that Wellington saw this false 
movement, he turned to the Spanish general, Alava, saying, " Marmont 
is lost !" and immediately ordered his right, under Pakenham, to advance 
ao-ainst Thomiere. The British troops sprang forvvard at the word, and, 
by an impeluous charge, overthrew Thomiere's entire column, killing its 



J812.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 305 

comraander, and making three thousand prisoners. A second British 
division now came on against Clausel, who was hastening to Thomiere's 
support, but who arrived only in time to share his defeat : the whole mass 
broke at the first charge, and fled from the ground, leaving two thousand 
prisoners in the hands of the victors. 

Meantime, a bloody contest was going on in the centre, with more doubt- 
ful success. Pack, at the head of the Portuguese, attempted to carry the 
French Arapeiles, but after bravely gaining the summit of the height, he 
was forced down in confusion and with great loss, and the disorder of this 
corps, having reached the division advancing to its support, threatened 
for a time to change the fate of the battle. Wellington and Beresford, 
however, led on their reserves ; and, taking the French columns in flank, 
while they were incautiously pursuing Pack's division, forced the whole 
mass to a disastrous retreat. Wellington now ordered a general pursuit, 
but the approach of night and a misapprehension as to the route of Mar- 
mont's troops, saved the defeated army from any further loss than they had 
sustained on the field. The killed and wounded on the part of the allies, 
amounted to five thousand two hundred men ; of whom three thousand one 
hundred and seventy-four were British ; two thousand and eighteen, Por- 
tuguese ; and eight, Spanish. The French loss in the battle exceeded 
fourteen thousand men, including seven thousand prisoners, besides two 
eagles, six standards and eleven pieces of cannon : and during their re- 
treat, owing to Marmont's negligence in not providing magazines for such 
a contingency, nearly eight thousand men straggled from the ranks in 
search of food, and were for the time lost to the army ; so that the French 
force actually suffered a reduction of twenty-two thousand men, by the 
battle of Salamanca. Marmont continued his retreat to Valladolid, 
where he arrived on the 26th of July : and Wellington, after vainly en- 
deavoring to overtake him, moved against the central army of Madrid. 

King Joseph, however, who in effect directed the movements of this 
army, although Jourdan was its leader, felt himself in no condition to face 
the conqueror of Salamanca, and retreated rapidly upon the capital. 
Wellington pursued with equal celerity, and when his advanced guard 
approached the town, on the 11th of August, Joseph with his court re- 
tired to Toledo, followed by his troops. Crowds of people from all quar- 
ters now hastened to Madrid to witness the entrance of their deliverers, 
and long before the British soldiers could be seen on the Guadarama, 
every balcony, window and door was thronged with the eager multitude. 
No words can express the enthusiasm that prevailed, when the British 
standard appeared in the distance, and the scarlet uniforms began by 
thousands to glow under the rays of the morning sun. After a time, the 
massy columns reached the gates and made their entrance into the Span- 
ish capital. The citizens came forward to meet the victorious chief, not 
with courtly adulation but heartfelt gratitude ; and their wan cheeks and 
trickling tears, as they pressed around him to kiss his hand or touch his 
horse, bespoke the magnitude of the evils from which he had come to de- 
liver their country. Garlands of flowers and festoons of drapery decora- 
ted every street ; the inhabitants poured out of their houses to distribute 
fruits and refreshments through the ranks, and in the evening a general 
illumination gave token of the universal joy. 

When Joseph retreated from Madrid, he left a garrison of seventeen 
hundred veterans to protect the Retire, which contained the greatest 



306 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXV. 

arsenal of military stores and artillery that the French possessed in 
Spain ; its capture, therefore, was a matter of consequence, for, as the 
battering train of Ciudad Rodrigo had fallen into the hands of the allies, 
the French could command no heavy guns for prosecuting a siege other 
than those now lying in this fortress. Wellington immediately recon- 
noitered its defences, and found them to consist of a double set of in- 
trenchments ; one, so large that an army was requisite to man the 
bastions, and the other so contracted that the garrison, if driven into it, 
could not withstand a vigorous cannonade. As soon, therefore, as pre- 
parations were completed for an assault, the commander of the place 
surrendered at discretion. On the same day, Don Carlos D'Espana was 
appointed governor of Madrid, and the Constitution was proclaimed with 
great solemnity. 

The French affairs in every part of the Peninsula, now for a time ex- 
hibited that general tendency toward ruin that so ^commonly follows a 
great military disaster, and presages the breaking up of political power. 
At the same time that the Retiro, with its immense stores of arms and 
ammunition, yielded to the British forces, Guadalaxara with its garrison 
surrendered to Empecinado ; three hundred men were captured by the 
partidas near Valladolid ; six thousand were shut up and blockaded in 
Toro, Tordesillas and Zamora, on the Duoro; Astorga was taken with its 
garrison of twelve hundred men ; Torden, also, capitulated ; the castle 
of Mirabete was blown up ; Castro Nediales, Santander, Gueteira, Tala- 
vera, and the Puerto de Bancs were evacuated ; and the French troops in 
the valley of the Tagus withdrew to the neighborhood of Aranjuez. 
Finally, Soult received orders to abandon Andalusia ; and, on the 25th 
of August, he retreated from his lines before Cadiz, leaving behind him 
five hundred pieces of cannon and an immense quantity of military stores. 

This general withdrawal of forces from the more remote provinces, 
however, followed as it was by a concentration in the centre of the king- 
dom, while it demonstrated the magnitude of the losses sustained by the 
French, served also greatly to strengthen their position in the vicinity of 
the capital, by bringing all their disposable troops into communication 
in one mass. Indeed, Wellington was so well aware of this, that he 
resolved to attack some of the corps on their route before such a junction 
could be effected ; and on the 1st of September he marched from Madrid 
for Burgos, intending to unite himself with the army of Galicia, under 
Sautaclides, at Palencia. He reached the latter place on the 8th ; but 
instead of being joined there by the thirty thousand Spaniards who had 
long received British rations as regular soldiers, he found only twelve 
thousand ill-disciplined and half naked recruits, who could not be relied 
on for the least effective service. He nevertheless continued his march 
to Burgos, where he expected to meet the remains of Marmont's army, 
amounting to twenty-two thousand men : but Clausel, who was then in 
commandof the corps, retired as Wellington advanced, and on the 19th 
the latter reached Burgos unopposed, and immediately laid siege to it. 
The British commander at first hoped to carry this fortress without delay ; 
but, after storming the outwork of St. Michael, he found the troops of the 
garrison were both too numerous and too resolute to yield to any other 
attack than regular approaches. This proved a serious embarrassment, 
as the heavy artillery had all been left at Madrid, and it was proposed 
to abandon the siege : Wellington, however, persisted, and he gave orders 



1810.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 307 

to open trenches and proceed in form, hoping that some contingency 
would favor his project ; but, after four weeks of laborious efFoi-t, during 
which every expedient of sap, mine and assault was frequently attempted, 
he submitted to necessity and relinquished the undertaking. 

While the siege of Burgos was in progress, Soult, with unexpected 
rapidity — owing to the abandonment of the defiles on his route by the 
Spanish troops — had advanced toward the capital from Cadiz ; and as 
General Hill became endangered by this accumulation of force, Welling- 
ton ordered him to withdraw from the line of the Tagus, evacuate Madrid, 
and fall back to Salamanca, whither he, also, directed his own march. 
The two armies formed a junction at Alba de Tormes and San Christoval 
on the 8th of November, and on the 9th, they took up a defensive position 
on the heights of the Arapeiles. Wellington's entire force amounted now 
to fifty-two thousand men, of whom fourteen thousand were Spaniards. 
On the 11th, Soult and Jourdan, who followed the British line of retreat, 
united their respective corps at Mozarbes, and arrayed themselves against 
Wellington with no less than ninety-five thousand men. The two French 
marshals immediately debated the question of attacking the allies, and 
Jourdan was strenuous for giving battle ; but Soult, unwilling to risk an 
action with an enemy so advantageously posted, steadily refused his con- 
currence, and moved with a considerable part of his corps to the left, so 
as to menace the allies' communication with Ciudad Rodrigo. 

As the immense superiority of the French in numbers, and especially 
in strength of cavalry, rendered it an easy matter for them to outflank 
fhe British position, and as it was evident from their movements that 
they did not intend to fight, Wellington resolved to retreat upon Ciudad 
Rodrigo ; and, on the 15th of November, he accomplished the difficult 
and delicate manoeuvre of a flank march in presence of an army double 
his own in efficient force, with a loss of but two hundred men. The 
retreat occupied three days, and the allies were not seriously molested 
by the enemy. Both armies soon after went into winter-quarters, and the 
campaign of 1812 was terminated. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

WAR IN turkey; accession of bernadotte to the SWEDISH throne; 

FINAL rupture BETWEEN FRANCE AND RUSSIA. 

In the beginning of the year 1810, the cabinet of St. Petersburg — 
anxious to improve the opportunity offered by the peace then existing 
between Russia and France, and conceiving that the time had ari-ived for 
carrying into effect those clauses in the treaty of Tilsit which ceded to 
Russia certain portions of the Turkish dominions — issued an imperial 
ukase, by which Moldavia and Wallachia were formally annexed to their 
territories, and the Danube, from the Austrian frontier to the sea, declared 
to be the southern European boundary of their mighty Empire. 

This step was followed by adequate military preparations. The Mus- 
covite army on the Danube was augmented to a hundred and ten thousand 



308 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXVL 

men, and placed under the command of Kaminski, a brave officer, but 
as yet not much experienced in Turkish warfare. Nevertheless, his first 
movements were eminently successful. He commenced the campaign 
on the 15th of May ; and between that day and the 17th of June, he 
captured the fortresses of Bazarjik, Silistria, Tourtoukai and Rasgrad. 
Greatly encouraged by this rapid progress, he dispatched his right wing 
against Rondschouck, and himself advanced with forty thousand men to 
the siege of Schumla. 

This fortress, which in all former wars had proved the limit of Mus- 
covite conquest in Turkey, is situated on the northern slope of the Balkan, 
where the great road from Belgrade and Bucharest to Constantinople first 
ascends the acclivity of the mountains. To the traveller who approaches 
it from the hills south of the Danube, it exhibits the appearance of a large 
triangular sheet, not unlike the distant view of Algiers over the waves 
of the Mediterranean. The town was not regularly fortified, though its 
position at the intersection of the principal roads which cross the Balkan 
from north to south, rendered it a stratagetical point of the highest import- 
ance ; it was protected in front by walls and ditches, and ovei'hung in 
the rear by a succession of eminences, that rise one above another until 
they are lost in the woody thickets of Mount Hemus. These heights, 
owing to the broken character of the ground and the thick brushwood with 
which it is covered, are inaccessible to European cavalry and artillery ; 
and the vast circuit of the natural defences, renders it almost impossible 
to invest or blockade the entire circumference of the place. Kaminski 
spent three weeks in unavailing attempts to storm Schumla ; at the end 
of which time he withdrew with twelve thousand men, to assist his right 
wing in the siege of Rondschouck, leaving the remainder of his army in 
front of Schumla to cover the disgrace of an open retreat. 

Rondschouck, a Turkish town containing thirty thousand inhabitants, 
was defended only by a single rampart and wet ditch, and a garrison of 
seven thousand men. The besieging force, after Kaminski's arrival, 
amounted to twenty thousand ; and as the Russian batteries had already 
partly destroyed the rampart, an assault was ordered on the 3rd of August. 
Bosniak Aga, the governor, had not yet fired a shot in reply to the Rus- 
sian batteries ; and those soldiers of the attacking force who were not 
familiar with the Turkish mode of defending a town, flattered themselves 
with the hope of an easy conquest. They advanced to the breach, there- 
fore, with great alacrity and confidence ; but the moment they came 
within range of the Turkish musketry, a dreadful storm of bullets saluted 
them from the roofs, windows and loopholes of the houses, which literally 
destroyed whole columns of the besiegers, and not one man could gain a 
footing within the walls. After a time, the Turkish fire slackened, and 
two divisions of Russians, supposing the defence to be abandoned, made 
their way into the town ; but it soon appeared that this was an artifice to 
bring them into the reach of the armed inhabitants and janizaries, who 
fell upon them in the streets with muskets, cimeters and daggers, and 
cut them entirely to pieces. At noon, the Moslem flag still waved on all 
the minarets ; and at six o'clock in the evening, Kaminski sounded a re- 
treat, leaving no less than eight thousand killed and wounded men behind 
him. He was now forced to limit his operations to a simple blockade, 
and remained in that position for some weeks. In the meantime, the 
garrison of Schumla made a sally against the Russians around their 



1811.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 309 

walls, but they were repulsed with great loss : nevertheless, the Russians, 
on the day following, raised the siege of the town and retired to Bazarjik. 

While Kaminski lay inactively in front of Rondschouck, an army of 
thirty thousand Turks approached that place, and intrenched themselves 
on the river Jantra, near Battin. The Russian general, anxious to re- 
trieve his late losses, ordered a part of the forces from Bazarjik to join 
him, and, advancing upon the Turkish position, made a spirited attack on 
the 7th of September. His combinations, however, were imperfect, and 
the first assault, led by himself, not having been supported in time by 
KulnefF, he was forced to fall back and make preparations for renewing 
the battle on the following day. At daybreak on the 8th, his whole force 
was in motion, and his men assailed the Turkish intrenchments with such 
determined valor that, at the first charge, they swept everything before 
them, routed the entire Turkish army with great loss, made five thousand 
men prisoners, and captured fourteen guns, two hundred standards, and 
a large flotilla laden with provisions for the relief of Rondschouck. That 
town soon after surrendered to the Russians, as did also Sistowa, a forti- 
fied post near it on the Danube. Kaminski next laid siege to Nicopolis, 
which capitulated on the 12th of December ; and he then concluded the 
campaign by retiring to winter-quarters in Moldavia, where he was seized 
with a malady of which he died in January, 1811. General KutusofF 
succeeded to the command of the army. 

The campaign of 1811 was at first confined to defensive operations on 
the part of the Russians, as the Emperor Alexandei-, in the spring of that 
year, withdrew five divisions of the army from the Danube to Poland and 
the Vistula. About the middle of June, the Turkish government, encour- 
aged by this diminution in the numbers of their enemies, assembled an 
army of sixty thousand men and marched against Kutusoff", then in posi- 
tion at Rondschouck. A battle took place between the two armies on the 
2nd of July, in which the Turks were defeated with a loss of three thou- 
sand men ; but Kutusoff" abandoned Rondschouck after the action, and 
retired to the left bank of the Danube. 

The Turks now spent nearly two months in repairing the houses and 
fortifications of their released city. Early in September, however, they 
resumed the offensive, crossed the Danube, attacked the Russian position 
on the 8th of that month so successfully as to endanger Kutusoff 's whole 
army, and inflicted a loss of more than two thousand men upon the Rus- 
sian divisions. But, instead of following up this success, they, in con- 
formity to the Ottoman tactics, proceeded to fortify their encampment ; 
and thus gave Kutusoff" time to recover from his discomfiture and retaliate 
upon them. He made preparations for assaulting their intrenchments in 
front ; and while these movements occupied the Turks' attention, he se- 
cretly dispatched General Markoff" with ten thousand men to fall upon 
their rear ; who so well executed his commission, that the Turks, finding 
themselves between two armies, broke from their lines and fled in the 
wildest confusion, leaving their tents, baggage, stores, artillery, horses 
and camels, together with a prodigious amount of booty, in the hands of 
the Russians, whose total loss in the affair was eight men. 

Kutusoff next attacked the encampment of the Turks on the right bank 
of the Danube ; and he succeeded so well in surrounding their position, 
that after a few days the entire army surrendered, and evacuated their 
camp without arms or artillery, on condition of being quartered in the 



310 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXVI. 

neighborhood of Bucharest, at the expense of the Russians, during the 
negotiations for peace then in progress at that place. These negotiations 
were eventually prolonged into the month of May, 1812, when a treaty 
was concluded, ceding to Russia the territories she had conquered during 
the war, on the north of the Danube, and prescribing that river as the 
boundary between the two nations. 

In 1808, when Norway formed a separate and hostile power in the 
Scandinavian Peninsula, Russia undertook to subdue a portion of the 
Swedish dominions. The cabinet of St. Petersburg had long beheld with 
covetous eyes the valuable province of Finland, stretching almost to the 
gates of their own capital, embracing the noble fortress of Sweaborg, and 
offering, by its conquest, to render the Baltic sea the boundary of their 
Empire, from the mouths of the Vistula to the districts bordering on the 
Frozen Ocean. A Russian army was accordingly dispatched to Finland 
in the month of February, 1808 ; and the Swedes were so little prepared 
for the invasion, that Trevastus, Helsingfors and Abo fell into the hands 
of the Muscovite troops almost without resistance. The Russian general 
advanced thence to Sweaborg, the Gibraltar of the north, a fortress of the 
first class, built on seven rocky islands, armed with seven hundred pieces 
of artillery, and garrisoned by six thousand men. Although this place 
was nearly impregnable, its governor was far from being incorruptible ; 
and under the influence of a large bribe, he basely surrendered the place 
to the Russians after a mere show of defence. The conquest of all Fin- 
land followed this terrible blow, and the Swedish generals entered into a 
convention with Russia, ceding to that power the whole province east of 
the Gulf of Bothnia. ♦■ 

Gustavus, however, the King of Sweden, avowed his determination to 
disregard this convention, and renew the war with Russia. But the army 
had become dissatisfied with his government, and the opinion generally 
prevailed among the more influential classes of Swedish citizens, that the 
interest of the country required its ruler to be deposed : a conspiracy was 
therefore organized to dethrone the king and elevate his uncle, the Duke 
of Sudermania, to the regal dignity. Gustavus soon learned what was 
in progress, and hastened from his country-seat, at Haga, to Stockholm, 
and shut himself up in his palace surrounded by his guards. He found, 
however, that these defenders could not be trusted ; and he was eventu- 
ally seized by the conspirators, imprisoned in the Castle of Drottingholm, 
and compelled to sign a formal renunciation of the crown. The people 
of Stockholm were so entirely prepared for these events, that no disturb- 
ance took place there on the change of dynasty, and even the theatres were 
open on the night of the abdication, as if nothing unusual had happened. 

This bloodless revolution was followed by the elevation of Adlercrantz, 
Klingspor and Aldesparre to the highest offices in the Swedish ministry ; 
and on the 5th of June, 1809, the Duke of Sudermania was proclaimed 
king : he ascended the throne with the title of Charles XIII. The first 
care of the new monarch was to conclude a treaty with Russia, which, 
however, ceded the whole of Finland to that power. He also declared 
his accession to the Continental System ; and, in return, the Duchy of 
Pomerania was restored to the Swedish crown, and Prince Holstein Au- 
gustenburg, son of the duke of that name, was declared the Crown-Prince, 
or, in other words, the successor to the throne. 



1810.1 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 311 

The affairs of Sweden seemed now to be permanently settled ; but in 
May, 1810, the Crown-Prince suddenly died, leaving the succession va- 
cant. A series of intrigues followed this unexpected event, the object 
of which was to procure the election of a new Crown-Prince ; and the 
sovereigns of Russia, France and Denmark severally exerted themselves 
to gain a preponderating influence in the matter. The choice eventually 
fell upon Bernadotte, whose appointment was confirmed by the Swedish 
Diet on the 17th of September. Napoleon was both surprised and dis- 
appointed at this result, as he would much have preferred to see the King 
of Denmark on the Swedish throne ; nevertheless, he advised Bernadotte 
to accept the proffered dignity, and advanced him a million of francs for 
the expenses immediately consequent on his appointment. 

While these events were taking place in the north of Europe, Napo- 
leon pursued with undisguised avidity his career of civic aggrandizement. 
On the 12th of November, 1810, the Republic of Valais, commanding 
the passage of the Simplon into Italy, was incorporated with the French 
Empire, on the ground that Napoleon's gi'eat public works in that quarter 
entitled France to the possession of the territory. The same Senate which 
passed this decree, issued another on the 13th of December with the fol- 
lowing preamble :" The British Orders in Council, and the Berlin and 
Milan decrees for 1806 and 1807, have torn to shreds the public law of 
Europe. A new order of things reigns throughout the world ; and, as 
new guaranties have become necessary, I consider that the union with 
the French Empire of the mouths of the Scheldt, the Meuse, the Rhine, 
the Ems, the Weser and the Elbe, together with the establishment of an 
interior line of communication between France and the Baltic, is of the 
greatest importance ; and I have caused a plan to be prepared, which in 
five years will unite the Baltic with the Seine. Indemnity shall be given 
to the princes who may be injured by this measure, which necessity re- 
quires, and which makes the right of my Empire rest on the Baltic sea." 
This immense spoliation extended the limits of France almost to the 
frontiers of Russia ; it took from the kingdom of Westphalia a district 
containing five hundred thousand inhabitants, and one from the Grand- 
duchy of Berg having a population of two hundred thousand ; and, what 
was much more serious, it dispossessed of his dominions the Grand-Duke 
of Oldenburg, brother-in-law of the Emperor Alexander, besides cutting 
off Prussia from the coast of the German Ocean. 

When Alexander received intelligence of the spoliation of the Grand- 
Duke of Oldenburg, and of the other encroachments in the decree of De- 
cember, 1810, he issued an imperial ukase on the last day of that month, 
which, under the pretence of regulating affairs of the Customs, materially 
relaxed the rigor of the decrees hitherto in force in the Russian Empire 
against English commerce, and at the same time virtually prohibited the 
importation of many articles of French manufacture. These measures 
were followed by the establishment of a coast-guard of eighty thousand 
men, which, as might easily be seen, was but a cloak for the augmenta- 
tion of the regular army. In addition to this, the cabinent of St. Peters- 
burg presented a diplomatic note to all the courts of Europe, formally 
complaining of the spoliation of the duchy of Oldenburg. 

The threatening aspect of these proceedings, which caused great dis- 
quietude all over Europe, was for a time forgotten by France, in her 
exultation at the birth of an heir to the Empire. This event occurred on 



312 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXXVI. 

the 20th of March. It had been previously intimated, that if the infant 
were a princess, twenty-one guns would be fired from the Invalides, but 
if it were a prince, a hundred guns would proclaim it. At the first 
report, therefore, all Paris was in commotion, and the discharges were 
counted with intense interest until the twenty-first gun had been fired. 
The gunners delayed an instant before discharging the next piece, and 
every one stood breathless with suspense ; but when the twenty-second 
gun was heard, the wildest enthusiasm prevailed, and the universal joy 
of the people gave witness of Napoleon's strong hold on their affections. 

The scarcely-disguised secession of Russia from the Continental Sys- 
tem, had the effect of rendering Napoleon more urgent in exacting the 
rigorous execution of his decrees from the other powers in the north of 
Europe.' He met with the most ready compliance from Denmark ; for 
the cabinet of Copenhagen shut the Danish ports against all neutral 
vessels whatever, bearing British or colonial produce : but against Prus- 
sia he fulminated menacing complaints for her alleged connivance at a 
contraband traffic, and the cabinet of Berlin was compelled to sign a 
treaty on the 28th of January, 1811, stipulating that the Prussian confis- 
cations of British goods should be remitted to France, and placed to the 
credit of Prussia on account of her debt to the Empire incurred by the 
war-contributions. He assumed a still more alarming tone toward Swe- 
den. Charging that, under pretence of a traffic in salt, a large contra- 
band trade was still carried on in the Swedish ports, he declared that he 
would greatly prefer open war with himself, to such a state of covert 
communication with his enemies. " I begin to see," he said, " that I have 
committed a fault in restoring Pomerania to Sweden ; and the Swedes 
may know, that if the treaty is not carried into execution to the very 
letter, my troops shall instantly reenter that province." " Choose," said 
he to Bernadotte, " between the confiscation of every English vessel that 
approaches your coast, and a war with France. You tell me Sweden is 
suffering. Bah ! Is not France suffering ? Are not Holland and Ger- 
many suffering ? We must all suffer to conquer a maritime peace." 

Napoleon followed up his demands on Sweden so peremptorily, that 
she was forced to declare war against England ; but even this step did 
not relieve her from his exactions : for although the British government, 
in view of the circumstances under which the cabinet of Stockholm was 
placed, generously forbore to commit hostilities on Swedish merchant- 
men, the French captured the Swedish vessels without hesitation, confis- 
cated their cargoes, and threw their crews into prison, on the pretext that 
they were trading with England and were not furnished with French 
licen.ses. Napoleon next demanded from Sweden two thousand sailors to 
join the French navy ; and as they were not immediately furnished, he 
raised his demand to twelve thousand. Things proceeded in this manner 
until January, 1812, when the French troops entered Pomerania, overran 
the country, seized the fortress of Stralsund, confiscated all Swedish ships 
in the harbor, and began to levy contributions for the Imperial trea- 
sury. These outrages soon led to negotiations between the cabinets of 
Stockholm, London and St. Petersburg, which ended in the conclusion of 
ofl^ensive and defensive treaties between Sweden, Great Britain and Rus- 
sia, against France. A renewal of the war bemg thus resolved on, 
Napoleon and Alexander, the sovereigns by whom it was chiefly to be 
waged, made immediate preparations for the contest. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

ADVANCE OF NAPOLEON TO MOSCOW. 

Napoleon undertook the Russian campaign with forces far exceeding 
any armament that he had hitherto assembled. The Grand Anny alone, 
which in the month of June was concentj'ated in Poland, numbered more 
than five hundred thousand effective troops ; and the entire resources of 
the French Empire and its dependencies could be relied on to furnish 
reenforcements to the enormous amount of seven hundred thousand more: 
making a total of twelve hundred thousand men, although this whole 
force was never actually brought into the field. The Grand Army 
had no less than eighty thousand cavalry and thirteen hundred pieces of 
cannon : twenty thousand wagons with baggage and magazines followed 
the march, and the horses employed in the army for the artillery, the 
cavalry and the wagons, amounted to one hundred and eighty-seven 
thousand. Of the soldiers, two hundred thousand were native French; 
the remainder were Germans, Italians, Poles, Swiss, Prussians, Aus- 
trians and Bavarians, whom the terror of Napoleon's arms had compelled, 
however unwillingly, to join this terrible array. 

These troops, at the commencement of the campaign, were divided into 
five great masses. The first, two hundred and twenty thousand strong, 
was under the immediate orders of the Emperor; the second, seventy-five 
thousand strong, was commanded by Jerome; the third, under the vice- 
roy Eugene, numbered, also, seventy-five thousand ; the right wing, under 
Schwartzenberg, consisted of thirty-thousand men, and the left, under 
Macdonald, also of thirty thousand. The remainder, forming the present 
efficient reserve, and amounting to seventy thousand men, followed the 
course of the advanced corps, and were ready to support any division in 
need of their assistance. 

The Russian forces actually in the field at the commencement of 
hostilities, did not exceed two hundred and fifteen thousand men ; of 
whom one hundred and twenty-seven thousand were commanded by 
Barclay de Tolly, forty-eight thousand by Prince Bagrathion, and forty 
thousand by Tormasotf. In addition to these, thirty-five thousand men 
were assembled in the interior provinces, and fifty thousand were in Mol- 
davia, all of whom eventually aided in the war, and raised the total 
strength brought into action during the campaign, though never all col- 
lected together at one time, to three hundred thousand men. 

On the 23rd of June, Napoleon approached the Niemen, and the numer- 
ous columns of the Grand Army converged toward Kowno, which, being 
the extreme point of a salient angle where the Prussian projected into 
the Russian territory, seemed a favorable spot for commencing operations. 
As Napoleon rode along the banks of the river, his horse stumbled and 
threw him upon the sand ; some one exclaimed, " It is a bad omen : a 
Roman would retire." Having reconnoitered the ground, he ordered 
the construction of three bridges, and retired to his quarters. The French 
infantry were as yet in good order, and had left very few stragglers be- 
hind ; but the cavalry and artillery had already begun to suffer severely. 



314 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXVII. 

The grass and hay on the line of march were soon entirely consumed by 
the enormous multitude of horses thus accumulated in a comparatively 
small space, and it became evident, that want of supplies would prove 
a serious obstacle to the success of the expedition. 

The passage of the troops was commenced on the 24th of June, and 
continued through the 25th, when the whole central army, under the 
Emperor, gained the opposite bank ; the viceroy and Jerome crossed, some 
days later, at Pilony and Grodno ; and on the 2nd of July, Schwartzenberg 
and Macdonald respectively passed over the Bug and the Niemen. The 
great disparity of force between the French and Russian armies rendered 
it necessary for the latter to maintain a defensive policy ; and, as Napo- 
leon's columns advanced, the Russians steadily and slowly retired: nor 
M'as it long before the wisdom of this course plainly appeared. The 
sultry heat of the weather at the crossing of the Niemen, was succeeded 
by a tempest that fell on the French ranks with terrible severity. Tlieir 
horses perished by thousands, from the combined effect of incessant rain 
and unwholesome provender; thirty thousand disbanded soldiers spread 
confusion around the whole army ; and when the French troops had been 
only six days in the Russian dominions, and when as yet not a single 
shot had been fired-, twenty-five thousand sick and dying men filled the 
hospitals of Wilna and the villages of Lithuania. 

Barclay withdrew from Wilna on the 28th of June, and Napoleon en- 
tered it a few hours afterward, and remained there seventeen days: a 
delay which military historians have declared to be the greatest error in 
his wholQ career. Certain it is, his inactivity on this occasion gave the 
Russian commander time to retire in admirable order, and exhibited a 
striking contrast to the vigor with which he pursued his retreating enemy 
in the campaigns of Ulm, Jena, Ratisbon and Echmul. 

While Napoleon was thus halting at Wilna, Jerome and Davoust had 
marched against Bagrathion, with the intention of separating his army 
from that of Barclay. Two sharp skirmishes occurred between the 
French and Russian light parties on the 9th and 10th of July, both of 
which terminated favorably to the Russians, and inspired the army with 
a desire for a general action ; but Bagrathion, wisely pursuing the course 
laid down in the general orders for the campaign, continued his retreat 
and reached the ramparts of Bobrinsk, on the Berezina, on the 18th of 
July. Napoleon was so much displeased at this result, that he removed 
Jerome from the command and placed the whole force under Davoust's 
orders ; this change, however, did not render the French movements suc- 
cessful in cutting off or defeating Bagrathion : for the latter, on the 24th, 
formed a junction with Count Platoff, and retired by Mohilow to Novo- 
Bichow, whence he crossed the Borysthenes, and, advancing leisurely to 
Smolensko, joined the main army under Barclay on the 3rd of August. 

In the meantime, Barclay, after leaving Wilna, had retired to an in- 
trenched camp at Drissa, on the 14th of July ; on the 16th, he moved to 
Polotsk; and on the 23rd he reached Witepsk, where he disposed the 
main body of his troops, and posted his vanguard, under Ostermann, 
twelve thousand strong, along the wooded heights of Ostrowno. On the 
26th, Murat with twelve thousand men, principally cavalry, attacked 
Comit Ostermann's division, and several severe, though partial actions 
ensued without any decisive results ; and meanwhile, both parties brought 
up the main body of their forces, so that on the morning of the 27th, 



1812.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 315 

Barclay's army, to the number of eighty-two thousand men, was drawn up 
on an elevated plain covering the approach to Witepsk ; and Napoleon 
lay near at hand with one hundred and eighty thousand men, resolved 
to attack the Russian position on the following day. At nightfall, his last 
words to Murat were, " To-morrow, at five, the sun of Austerlitz !" 

But, although Barclay at first resolved to hazard a battle with an army 
more than double his own numbers, he afterward changed his resolution, 
and ordered a retreat toward Smolensko. Brilliant watch-fires were 
kept up during the night to disguise the intended movement, while his 
whole army broke up from its encampment, and retii'ed with such expe- 
dition and skill that not a weapon, a baggage-wagon, nor a straggler was 
left behind. The next morning, when the French advanced guard ar- 
rived at the separation of the roads leading to St. Petersburg and Moscow, 
they could not discover which of the two routes the Russians had taken. 
The condition of the French army was now such that a halt at Witepsk 
became indispensable, to repair the disorder and disorganization con- 
sequent on the scarcity of supplies, exposure to the weather, fatigues of 
the march, and the great prevalence of sickness among the men. Bar- 
clay, therefore, continued his march to Smolensko without molestation. 

The Emperor Alexander had left the army at Polotsk under the sole 
command of Barclay, on the 16th of July, and returned to Moscow to 
hasten the military preparations in that quarter. On the 27th, the nobles 
and merchants of Moscow were invited to a solemn assembly in the 
Imperial palace, where Count Rostopchin, the governor, read to them an 
address from the Emperor, soliciting them to contribute to the defence of 
the country. The nobles immediately proposed and unanimously voted 
a levy of ten in every hundred of the male population, whom they prom- 
ised to clothe and arm at their own expense : and the merchants with 
equal promptitude subscribed a million of dollars for the public service. 
At this moment, the Emperor entered the hall and declared, amid the 
burst of enthusiasm which greeted him, that he would exhaust his last 
resources before giving up the contest. By these means, a powerful 
auxiliary force was created in the interior districts of the Empire; and, 
as the example of Moscow was speedily followed, an immense number 
of men soon assembled in various parts of the Russian dominions who, in 
the event, greatly contributed to the success of the war. Alexander then 
set out for St. Petersburg, where he arrived on the 15th of August. 

Toward the end of July, Barclay detached Wittgenstein with twenty- 
five thousand men, to maintain a position on the Dwina and cover the 
road to St. Petersburg. Oudinot was sent by Napoleon to attack this 
corps, and he made an assault on the Russian, general, on the 31st of 
July. The Russian vanguard, under Kutusoff, at first fell into some 
disorder, but this was soon remedied by the support of fresh troops, and 
Oudinot was at length defeated and forced to retreat across the Drissa, 
with a loss of four thousand men. About the same time, TormasofT, on 
the other flank of the Russian armies, finding the Austrians under 
Schwartzenberg indisposed to take the offensive, fell suddenly on a corps 
of Saxons, commanded by Reynier, at Kobrin, and made prisoners an 
entire brigade of their best troops. This disaster so weakened Reynier's 
force, that Napoleon was compelled to order the Austrians to his support, 
and he thus deprived himself of the aid of Schwartzenberg, on which he 
had confidently relied for repairing the losses of the army under his own 
immediate direction. 



316 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXVII. 

When Barclay, by the junction with Bagrathion at Smolensko, found 
himself at the head of more than a hundred and twenty thousand men, 
he resolved to hazard an attack on the French right wing, and for that 
purpose marched against Murat on the 8th of August; but his combina- 
tion was faulty, and he gained only a partial success. To retaliate this 
movement, Napoleon resolved to turn the Russian left; and, by crossing 
the Dnieper, gain possession of Smolensko, and cut Barclay off from his 
communications with the Empire. Accordingly, on the 13th, he suddenly 
pushed two hundred thousand men over that river and entered the ter- 
ritory of Old Russia. Marshals Ney and Murat, who headed the leading 
columns of the army, overtook, near Krasnoi, General Newerofskoi, who 
with the rear-guard, seven thousand strong, was slowly retreating toward 
Smolensko. This little corps was now suddenly assailed, and nearly 
surrounded by eighteen thousand cavalry, without the possibility of being 
reenforced, as the main Russian army was on the other side of the river. 
Many generals, thus situated, would have deemed resistance impossible, 
and proposed a surrender ; but Newerofskoi formed his men into a square, 
and continued his march in admirable order over the open plains which 
adjoin the Dnieper; and, throughout the whole day, resisted the utmost 
efforts of the veteran horsemen, who made forty distinct charges on the 
square, besides essaying every other expedient known in warfare to dis- 
order the ranks of this admirable infantry. Newerofskoi reached Koryt- 
nia with unbroken ranks, though he sustained a loss of eleven hundred 
men and five pieces of cannon. The next day he united himself with 
Raeffskoi, which raised their joint forces to nineteen thousand men, and 
the two generals threw themselves into Smolensko, resolved to defend 
that place to the last extremity. At daybreak, on the 16th of August, 
Barclay again approached Smolensko, where he found the whole French 
army drawn up under Napoleon. 

The ancient and venerable city of Smolensko is situated on two hills, 
which confine within a narrow channel the Dnieper as it flows between 
them. The two parts of the town are connected with each other by 
bridges over the river. The defences of Smolensko were not very formi- 
dable, nor capable of resisting a regular seige. After Napoleon had 
briefly reconnoitered the place, he ordered Ney to assault the citadel, but 
Raeffskoi repulsed him with great loss. While Ney was rallying from 
this defeat, Barclay reached the town on the opposite side, and his columns 
defiled rapidly in to reenforce the garrison. Napoleon now supposed 
that the Russian general intended to defend Smolensko with all his forces, 
and he prepared for a general attack the next day. 

Barclay, however, had no thought of hazarding a battle against such 
superior numbers, and in a position where he might easily be cut off 
both from his commvmications and retreat. He proposed merely to hold 
Smolensko with such a rear-guard as might keep the enemy in check, 
until he had withdrawn the bulk of his army, and he accordingly ordered 
Bagrathion to evacuate the town during the night, with the main body, 
and take post behind a little stream, distant four miles in the rear; while 
he himself remained to guard the movement from interruption. In the 
morning of the 17th, Napoleon was greatly exasperated to find the main 
army had escaped him, and he ordered a general assault on the town. 
But "the Russians were prepared for a desperate resistance, and the mur- 
derous fire of their artillery and musketry destroyed column after column 



1812.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 317 

of the beseigers. The combat was continued until seven o'clock in the 
evening, when Napoleon drew off his troops, having sustained a loss of 
fifteen thousand men, while that of the Russians was nearly ten thousand. 

Soon after the cannonade had ceased, and when the whole scene was 
shrouded in darkness, save where it was relieved by the watch-fires of 
the French army, flames were seen to break forth simultaneously in 
several parts of the town, which was soon enveloped in one mighty con- 
flagration. A dark band in front marked the yet unbroken line of battle- 
ments, a lurid light like that of Vesuvius shone over the extended 
bivouacs of the French host, and the lofty domes of the Cathedral, des- 
tined to escape the fire, stood in dark magnificence above the ocean of 
flame. 

At three o'clock the next morning, a patrol of Davoust scaled the walls, 
and penetrated without resistance into the interior of the town : but find- 
ing neither inhabitants nor garrison, the men returned to their division 
and made their report, upon which the French advanced guard was 
ordered to enter the town. The streets and houses were indeed deserted, 
and the invading columns traversed in silence a ruined city, containing 
little else than smoking walls and dying men: the Cathedral alone had 
withstood the flames. The Russian commander had made his arrange- 
ments so judiciously, that all the magazines in the town were destroyed 
or removed, the wounded, and a greater part of the inhabitants withdrawn, 
the bridges over the Dnieper broken down, and his own retreat in perfect 
order was secured. The only trophy that remained to Napoleon, was 
the abandoned ramparts and the cannon that mounted them. 

Orders to pursue were immediately issued, and on the 19th, Ney over- 
took Barclay with the rear-guard at Valentina, where the latter was 
strongly posted on the opposite side of a ravine. Ney commenced an 
attack at once with a few light troops, but reenforcements soon came up 
on both sides, and an obstinate battle took place which ended in the re- 
pulse of Ney. Napoleon now made new dispositions and a more serious 
attack ; but notwithstanding the additional forces brought forward, and 
that they charged the Russian lines with the most desperate and untiring 
valor, the brave Muscovites maintained their position until nightfall, and, 
having effectually protected the retreat of the main army, themselves 
retired in good order during the night. The whole Russian force 
engaged was twenty-five thousand men, that of the French thirty-five 
thousand ; and the losses amounted to eight thousand French and six 
thousand Russian soldiers. 

Napoleon visited the battle-field the next day ; and afterward reviewed 
his troops, to whom he distributed honors and rewards with a liberal 
hand — for he found it necessary to support the spirits of his men by some 
unusual effl^rt. The soldiers had become discouraged with long, tedious 
marches through gloomy forests ; their hearts sank within them at be- 
holding the interminable solitudes which surrounded them in every direc- 
tion ; and (tie knowledge of their strength in numbers, only increased 
their disquietude, by reason of the obvious inadequacy of the country to 
provide for their necessities. The young conscripts, who advanced on 
the traces of the Grand Army to reenforce its ranks, were shocked and 
depressed at the objects that met their view ; dead horses, broken car- 
riages, and dying men, obstructed the roads and infected the air ; while 
the veterans wlio combated in front, compared the miserable quarters 



318 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXVII. 

they had gained among the ruins of Smolensko, with the smiling villages 
they had abandoned in their native land. Even the officers shared the 
general discontent ; and those who had risen to the highest rank, sighed 
to think that, after a life spent in arms, they were reduced, like common 
soldiers, to the never-ending hardships of wretched food, incessant fatigue 
and squalid habitations. 

Nor were the reports of the hospitals and the commissariat calculated 
to allay the universal despondency. Already, the march had cost the 
allied troops a half, and the native French a fourth, of their original num- 
bers. Typhus fever and dysentery, the well-known attendants on mili- 
tary expeditions, had everywhere broken out in the most alarming 
manner, and swept off thousands in all the great hospitals of the army. 
Wilna and Witepsk were become vast charnel-houses, where contagion 
completed what the devastations of war had begun ; the accumulation of 
corses around the ramparts of Smolensko, gave rise to a new epidemic, 
more fatal than the sword of the enemy ; and all the cottages, far and 
near, were crowded with wounded men, without food, straw or medical 
attendance. 

Napoleon was well aware of all this. " The condition of the army," 
said he, " is frightful ; I know it. At Wilna, one half were stragglers ; 
now, they amount to two-thirds : there is not a moment to lose : we must 
grasp at peace, and it can be found only at Moscow. Besides, the state 
of the army is such as to render a halt impossible : constant advance 
alone keeps it together ; you may lead it forward, but you cannot arrest 
its movement. We have advanced too far to retreat. If I had only mil- 
itary glory in view, I should have nothing to do but return to Smolensko, 
and extend my wings on either side, so as to crush Wittgenstein and Tor- 
masoff. These operations would be brilliant : they would form a glori- 
ous termination to the campaign ; but they would not conclude the war. 
Peace is before us ; we have to march only eight days to obtain it : when 
we are so near our object, it is impossible to deliberate. Let us advance 
to Moscow." 

On the other hand, the Russian generals began to doubt the policy of a 
further retreat. Their object in retiring from the frontier, was to draw 
the enemy into a situation where his superiority of numbers might be 
diminished by the fatigues and contingencies of such a march ; and these 
causes had already done their work on the invaders. The Russian 
troops, too, began to murmur at such constant retreats ; and the prospect 
of abandoning Moscow, without a struggle, would doubtless drive them to 
acts of revolt. Barclay, therefore, after mature deliberation, resolved to 
give battle to the French on the first eligible field that he might reach ; 
and he dispatched orders for all disposable reinforcements to join him 
from the interior districts. 

In the meantime, Wittgenstein, following up his success against Oudi- 
not, hazarded a general attack on that marshal's lines, in front of Polotsk, 
on the 18th of August, which resulted rather unfavorably to the Russians ; 
but on the 22nd, when a division of Bavarians attacked Wittgenstein's 
rear-guard, he defeated them with severe loss ; after which, he removed 
his head-quarters to Sewokhino, and awaited reinforcements from Fin- 
land and St. Petersburg. 

Victor, wliile approaching the Dwina, received orders to occupy Smo- 
lensko, and take a general charge of Lithuania. His instructions from 



1812.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 319 

Napoleon were, to " direct all your attention and forces to the general 
object, which is to secure the communication from Wilna, by Minsk and 
Smolensko, with the imperial head-quarters. The army Avhich you com- 
mand is the reserve of the Grand Army ; if the route by Smolensko 
should be interrupted, you must open it at all hazards. Possibly, I may 
not find peace where I am about to seek it ; but even in that case, sup- 
ported by so strong a reserve, well posted, my retreat would be secure 
and need not be precipitate." To complete the line of communication 
with France, Augereau, with his army of fifty thousand men, was ordered 
to advance from the Oder to the Niemen, fifty thousand of the National 
Guard were moved from the fortresses of the Rhine to the Elbe, and one 
hundred and twenty thousand conscripts, of the class of 1813, were 
brought forward to the Rhine. 

On the 22nd of August, Napoleon set out from Smolensko on his march 
to Moscow, following the Russian army, which slowly retired in the direc- 
tion of that city. Barclay had arrived at Gjatsk, and was surveying the 
ground with a view of selecting a battle-field, when he was superseded in 
his command by General Kutusoff. This measure became necessary, by 
reason of the dissatisfaction of the troops at the destruction of Smolensko, 
as well as at their continued retreat, the policy of which they could not 
be made to comprehend ; and as Barclay was a Scotchman by birth, it 
was thought that concord and submission among the men would be 
attained and promoted, by placing them under the orders of a native Rus- 
sian. Nevertheless, Barclay had conducted the armies of Russia with 
consummate wisdom, and by his masterly retreat before such superior 
numbers, he earned a high place in the records of fame. 

Kutusoff readily fell in with Barclay's views as to risking a battle for 
Moscow, and he made a halt for that purpose, on the 2nd of September, 
at Borodino. Napoleon reached the field on the 6th, in the afternoon, 
and ordered an immediate attack on a redoubt in front of the Russian 
position, occupied by Gorczakoff with twelve thousand men. The as- 
sault, led by Murat, was successful after a desperate struggle ; but the 
Russians rallied and returned to the charge, retook and lost the place 
three several times during the evening, and finally left it in the hands of 
the Frencli. 

When the dawn of the 7th of September discovered the Russian army 
still in their position, and it was evident that at length a general battle 
must take place, a feeling of joy pervaded the French army. The fa- 
tigues of the campaign, the distance from home, the dangers of the strife, 
were forgotten in the general enthusiasm, ^t five o'clock, the sun rose 
in cloudless splendor; "It is the sun of Austerlitz !" said Napoleon, and 
immediately the trumpets and drums sounded, as if to welcome its rising. 

The forces on the two sides were nearly equal, amounting to about one 
hundred and thirty thousand each ; but the French were greatly superior 
in cavalry, and nearly all their troops were veteran soldiers, while a part 
of KutusofT's army had never yet been under fire. 

The battle commenced at six o'clock, by an attack with the French 
right, under Davoust, on the left of the Russian line. The French col- 
umns, covered by their artillery, moved steadily on without firing a shot, 
although an incessant storm of balls from all arms shattered their ranks : 
Davoust's horse was killed under him, and he himself received a severe 
contusion as he fell. Generals Campans, Rapp and Desaix, were also 



320 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXVII. 

badly wounded, and this successive loss of the services of their officers, 
occasioned some indecision in the French movement ; at length, however, 
they carried the redoubts that covered the Russian left. Bagrathion im- 
mediately reenforced the routed division, and retook the position ; and 
KutusofF, perceiving that Napoleon was directing great strength against 
this part of his line, moved the corps of Bagawouth from the right to its 
support. At the same time, Ney received orders to support Davoust, 
and he had gallantly made himself master of the disputed redoubt, when 
Bagawouth's corps, in turn, dislodged him and drove him back on the plain. 

Ney and Davoust, thus repulsed, united their forces for a spirited 
attack on the right division of the Russian centre ; and after a combat of 
no less than four hours, they found themselves unable to force Kutusoif 's 
lines, and sent an urgent request to the Emperor for reenforcements. 
Napoleon, thinking it time for a decisive charge, ordered up the Young 
Guard, and the greater part of the reserve cavalry, to support the two 
marshals ; four hundred pieces of cannon were brought to bear on the 
redoubts in this quarter, and, under the cover of their fire, these immense 
columns advanced to the assault. The fire from the Russian batteries 
was concentrated on this mass, and it swept off whole battalions at once, 
but the survivors closed their ranks and pressed on with a firm step to the 
ramparts. Bagrathion, perceiving that the French gradually gained 
ground, ordered the whole left wing to abandon their intrenchments, and 
charge the attacking columns in flank. A terrible contest ensued. 
Fully eighty thousand men, with seven hundred pieces of cannon, accu- 
mulated in a small space, fought with great fury for more than an hour, 
without any perceptible advantage to either side, until at last Bagrathion 
was severely wounded, and the Russians began to give way. General 
Konownitsyn, however, assumed the command, and effected a retreat in 
good order to a strong position in the rear, behind the ravine of Seme- 
nowskoie, and for the rest of the day maintained his ground against every 
assault of the enemy. 

In the centre, where Barclay commanded, a desperate conflict was also 
waged. The Russians at first lost the village of Borodino, and afterward 
the great centre redoubt which formed the strongest point of his whole 
position ; but by a determined effort the latter was retaken, a part of 
the attacking force made prisoners, and the remainder driven back in 
confusion to the Emperor's quarters. Napoleon was now strongly urged 
to send forward his final reserve of Imperial Guards ; but for a time he 
refused to do so, leaving the routed division to sustain itself against the 
Russian cavalry. He, however, at length ordered the charge, and the 
impetuosity of those veterans, together with a terrible onslaught of cui- 
rassiers in flank, carried the redoubt. The Russian general made seve- 
ral attempts to recover it, but without success, and toward evening he 
withdrew his whole force to the heights directly in the rear of his original 
position. Thus, at the close of the day, the Russians had abandoned 
their whole first line of defence ; but they had gained a second line, 
stronger than the other, where the French did not venture to molest them. 

The Russian loss in this terrible battle, amounted to forty-seven thou- 
sand men : fifteen thousand killed, thirty thousand wounded, and two 
thousand prisoners ; and among the slain, were the brave Bagrathion and 
several general officers of distinction. The French lost Generals Cau- 
laincourt, Monbrun, and several other officers, together with a total of 



1812.] HISTORY OFEUROPE. 321 

fifty thousand men, of whom twelve thousand were killed, and thirty-eight 
thousand wounded. In addition to this, the French lost ten, and the Rus- 
sians thirteen pieces of cannon : so that on the whole, the French could 
boast of no other advantage in the action than the mere keeping possession 
of the battle-field. 

The day after the battle of Borodino, the Russians retired by the great 
road toward Moscow. The magnitude of his loss, rendered Kutusoff un- 
willing to risk the remainder of the army in another general action with 
the French, who were constantly receiving reinforcements ; but no signs 
of confusion marked his route ; and the subsequent retreat was conducted 
with such perfect order, that when the French troops reached the point 
where the roads to Moscow and Kaluga separate, they were for some time 
uncertain, as they had previously been at Witepsk, which of the two the 
Russians had followed. Kutusoff" reached a position half a league in 
front of Moscow on the 13th of September, and held a council of war to 
deliberate the question of abandoning the town to its fate. Kutusoff" and 
Barclay eventually insisted on a retreat, assigning as a reason, that it 
was indispensable to preserve the army entire until the new levies could 
be incorporated into its ranks, and averring that the abandonment of the 
metropolis " would lead the enemy into a snare, where his destruction would 
be inevitable." These prophetic words determined the council, and or- 
ders were given for the troops to retire in the direction of Kolomna. On 
the morning of the 14th, therefore, the army continued its retreat, and in 
silent despondency defiled through the streets of the sacred city. 

Nothing could exceed the consternation of the inhabitants of Moscow, 
when they found themselves deserted by their defenders. They had 
been led to believe, from the government reports, that the French were 
entirely de/eated at Borodino, and that Napoleon's advance to Moscow 
was impossible ; they therefore had not thought of preparations for quit- 
ting the city. Nevertheless, when their departure thus became unavoid- 
able, they made exertions equal to the emei'gency, and in a short time, 
no less than three hundred thousand people left their homes, and reverted 
at once to the nomadic life of their ancestors. 

At eleven o'clock, on the 14th, the advanced guard of the French army, 
from an eminence on their route, descried the minarets of the metropolis ; 
the domes of more than two hundred churches, and the roofs of a thousand 
palaces glittered in the rays of the sun, and the leading squadrons, struck 
by the magnificence of the spectacle, halted to exclaim, " Moscow ! 
Moscow !" and the cry, repeated from rank to rank, reached the Empe- 
ror's guard. The soldiers then broke their array and rushed tumultu- 
ously forward, while Napoleon in the midst of them gazed impatiently on 
the scene. His first words were, "Here is that famous city at last !" 
but he immediately added, " It is full time !" 

The entry of the French troops into the town, however, dispelled many 
of their illusions. Moscow was deserted. Its long streets and splendid 
palaces reechoed nothing but the clangor of the invader's march : the 
dwelling-places of three hundred thousand people were as silent as a 
wilderness. Napoleon in vain waited until evening for a deputation from 
the magistrates, or from the chief nobility. No one came forward to 
deprecate his hostility, and the mournful truth finally forced itself upon 
him, that Moscow, as if struck by enchantment, was bereft of its inhabit- 
ants. He nevertheless advanced, and the troops took possession of the 



322 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXXVIII. 

town, while he established his head-quarters at the ancient palace of the 
Czars. 

But a terrible catastrophe was at hand. At midnight, on the 15th, a 
bright light illuminated the northern and western parts of the city ; and 
the sentinels at the Kremlin, soon discovered that the splendid edifices in 
that vicinity were on fire. The wind changed repeatedly during the 
night, but to whatever quarter it veered, the conflagration extended itself; 
fresh fires were perpetually breaking out, and Moscow was soon one sea 
of flame. Napoleon clung with great tenacity to the Kremlin, but the 
approaching and surrounding fire at last forced him to abandon it, and 
with some difficulty he made his escape to the country palace of Petrow- 
sky. The conflagration continued for thirty-six hours, and laid nine- 
tenths of the city in ashes. 

While these events were in progress, the Russian army retired on the 
road to Kolomna ; and, after falling back two marches in that direction, 
it wheeled to the left, and, by a semi-circular route, regained the road to 
Kaluga, and encamped at Tarutino. By this masterly movement, Kutu- 
soff" at once drew near to his reenforcements, covered the richest prov- 
inces of the Empire, secured the supplies of his army, and threatened the 
enemy's communications. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE EETREAT FROM MOSCOW. 

Napoleon returned to the Kremlin, which eventually escaped the 
flames, on the 20th of September, and anxiously awaited the impression 
which the intelligence of his success would produce on the Russian gov- 
ernment. To aid the anticipated effect. Count Lauriston was dispatched 
to the head-quarters of Kutusoff", with authority to propose an armistice, 
and Murat had an interview with General Benningsen. Kutusoff" imme- 
diately forwarded Napoleon's letter to St. Petersburg, through the hands 
of Prince Wolkousky, while the French deputation were amused with 
hopes of an arrangement held out to them by the Russian generals. 

For a time, the Emperor lay inactive at Moscow, expecting the submis- 
sion of the cabinet of St. Petersburg : but day after day, and week after 
week rolled on, without any answer to his proposals. Meantime, the 
early winter of those northern latitudes was visibly approaching, and the 
anxiety of the troops in regard to their future movements began to be 
loudly and freely expressed. At the same time, the discipline and 
efficiency of the army daily declined amid the license which followed 
the pillage of Moscow. All the efforts of the officers failed to arrest the 
insubordination of the men, and the more so, as the pressure of famine 
aggravated their calamities. The food of the officers frequently consisted 
of nothing but horse-flesh, and the common soldiers were often on the 
point of starving. 

Very different from this was the appearance of the Russian camp 
at Tarutino. Discipline, order and comfort, reigned there conspicuous. 



1812.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 323 

The levies which arrived from the southern provinces filled up the nu- 
merous chasms in the battalions, and all the necessaries of life were 
furnished in abundance by the surrounding country. One feeling of 
enthusiasm and one purpose of vengeance animated the entire soldiery. 
The Cossacks of the Don took arms in a body at the call of Platoff, and 
twenty-two regiments joined the army. The savage aspect of the horses 
which these rude warriors brought from the wilderness, with their un- 
combed manes sweeping the ground, attested how deeply the innermost 
recesses of the Russian Empire were pervaded by that indomitable spirit 
of resistance, which brought thence these wild children of the desert to 
combat for the national freedom. 

While the fate of Napoleon's proposals to Alexander remained in sus- 
pense, a sort of armistice prevailed between the two main armies ; but a 
guerilla warfare was maintained by the Russian light troops, and espe- 
cially by the Cossacks, who formed a vast circle around Moscow, occu- 
pied every road, and intercepted the enemy's supplies of forage and pro- 
visions. The French cavalry were by this means compelled to tra- 
verse large districts in search of food, and their detachments were almost 
invariably cut off by their enterprising "and active assailants. During 
the first thrfee weeks of October, the French lost in this manner more 
than four thousand men who were taken prisoners, and the reports from 
Murat announced the alarming fact, that one-half of the whole remaining 
cavalry of the army had perished in these inglorious encounters. 

With these facts in view, the officers were impressed with the most 
gloomy forebodings as to the fate of the army, if its stay at Moscow were 
prolonged : and Napoleon, although he still flattered himself with a be- 
lief that his negotiations for peace would end satisfactorily, saw never- 
theless, that if they were to eventuate otherwise, he would be forced to a 
disastrous retreat. As early as the 2nd of October, he had given orders 
for the evacuation of the Cathedral and adjoining convents of Smolensko — 
which had escaped the conflagration of tliat city, and were then occupied 
as hospitals — in order that they might be ready to receive the sick and 
wounded followers of his retrograde march ; and on the 6th of the same 
month he had written to Berthier, to post his corps in such a manner as to 
cover his anticipated retreat to that city. But it was now easier for Na- 
poleon to issue orders for the protection of his homeward route, than for 
his marshals to obey them. The courage and audacity of the straggling 
Russian parties along the whole line of the French communications, 
increased with the embarrassments of the invaders ; and not only con- 
voys of provisions, but columns in march were intercepted and destroyed 
by these indefatigable foes. 

During this critical period. Napoleon was wasting invaluable time in 
expectation of an answer to his proposals, which were never seriously 
entertained by the Russians, and would never have been received at all, 
but for the secret purpose of detaining him at Moscow until the approach 
of winter had rendered the escape of his army impossible. But on the 
13th of October, a fall of snow aroused Napoleon to a sense of his dan- 
ger, and he began in earnest to make preparations for retreat. 

Kutusoff, who had remained inactive in hi% encampment, solely because 
he was fearful of prematurely awaking Napoleon from his fancied secu- 
rity, prepared to resume the offensive as soon as it became evident that 
the French were about to retire. He had for some time observed that the 
L2 



324 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXXVIII. 

advanced guard, under Murat and Poniatowski, thirty thousand strong, 
posted in the neighborhood of Winkowo, kept so negligent a watch at 
their outposts, as to offer a tempting opportunity for a surprise. He 
therefore placed a large body of men under the command of Benningsen, 
with orders to make the attack. Benningsen divided his force into five 
columns and hastened to Winkowo, where he arrived on the morning of 
the 18th of October, and assaulted the French position with great spirit : 
but as his columns did not all reach their designated positions at one 
time, Murat was enabled to retreat with a loss of only fifteen hundred 
men, thirty-eight pieces of cannon and all his baggage. 

This comparatively trifling disaster accelerated Napoleon's movements- 
He left the Kremlin on the morning of the 19th, exclaiming, " Let us 
march to Kaluga, and wo to those who interrupt our progress !" He re- 
treated from Moscow at the head of one hundred and five thousand com- 
batants, with six hundred pieces of artillery ; and in the rear of this im- 
posing array, came an almost interminable train of wagons bearing the 
spoils pillaged from the devoted city. Napoleon at first advanced on the 
old road to Kaluga, which led directly to Kutusoff 's encampment ; but 
after marching for some hours ift that direction, he turned suddenly to the 
right, and gained by cross-roads the new and shorter route to Kaluga, 
which ran through Malo-Jaroslawitz. This manoeuvre was concealed 
from the Russians by the corps of Marshal Ney, which continued to ad- 
vance slowly on the old road ; and Kutusoff, in the belief that the whole 
army had moved on this route, at first sent only Platoff with fifteen regi- 
ments of Cossacks to take possession of Malo-Jaroslawitz. On discovering 
his error, he dispatched the corps of Doctoroff by a rapid night march to 
support the Cossacks. The French troops had, however, already reached 
the place in some force under Eugene, and an obstinate contest ensued, 
at the termination of which, late in the evening of the 24th, the viceroy 
remained master of a burning town ; but he had purchased it by a loss 
of five thousand of his best troops. Moreover, a Russian army of one 
hundred thousand men, with seven hundred pieces of cannon, had im- 
proved the time consumed in the action to occupy a semi-circular line in 
his front, which precluded the possibility of a further advance toward 
Kaluga, without a general battle. 

Napoleon remained in the neighborhood of Malo-Jaroslawitz during the 
night of the 24th, and sent out numerous parties to reconnoitre the Rus- 
sian position ; and their reports induced his most experienced officers to 
believe that a successful attack was impossible. No alternative remained, 
therefore, but to fall back on the Smolensko road ; and the Emperor's 
aghation at this juncture was so great, that his attendants dared not 
approach him. On returning to the miserable cottage that constituted his 
head-quarters, he sent for Berthier, Murat and Bessieres, and seating him- 
self at a table on which a map of the country was spread out, he began 
to speak to them of the change which the arrival of Kutusoff on the high- 
grounds of Malo-Jaroslawitz had made in his situation. After a little 
discussion he became meditative, and, resting his cheeks on his hands 
and his elbows on the table, he fixed his eyes on the map, and remained 
for more than an hour in mqody silence. The three generals, respecting 
his mental agony, sat also still and speechless. At last, he suddenly 
started up and dismissed them, without making known his intentions. But 
immediately afterward, he sent orders to Davoust to take his place at the 



1812.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 325 

* 

head of the advanced guard, saying that he would himself be at the out- 
posts with his Imperial Guard, at daybreak. Ney was also directed to 
take a position between Barowsk and Malo-Jaroslawitz, after leaving two 
divisions to protect the reserve artillery and baggage at the former of 
those towns. 

Early on the 25th, Napoleon set out in person to examine the ground, 
and was advancing, through a confused mass of baggage-wagons and 
artillery, when a sudden tumult arose, and the same moment this cry was 
heard, " It is PlatofT! they are ten thousand strong!" and a large body 
of Cossacks dashed down on the Imperial escort. By a quick and des- 
perate effort tlie tide of this alarming irruption was turned, and the Cos- 
sacks, ignorant of the prize so entirely within their grasp, directed their 
attention to the artillery, and carried off eleven guns. After thoroughly 
reconnoitering the ground, the Emperor returned to his quarters, and 
nothing further was attempted on either side for the day. But the fatal 
retreat was definitively resolved on, and early in the morning of the 26th 
the men silently and mournfully commenced their march. KutusofF pur- 
sued with his main body by a parallel road toward Mojaisk and Wiazma, 
while PlatofT with the Cossacks pressed the French rear-guard. 

The several French corps marched at intervals of half a day's journey 
from each other, and for some days were not seriously harassed by the ene- 
my ; but the discouragement of the troops had become very great, and the 
dreadful features of the retreat already began to appear. Baggage- wagons 
were constantly abandoned, the infantry and cavalry hastened along in 
utter confusion, and incessant explosions through the vast column, an- 
nounced the number of ammunition carts that were left behind of necessity, 
and blown up to prevent their falling into the hands of the Russians. In 
fact, the retreat was rapidly becoming a flight ; the troops separated from 
the marching columns in quest of plunder or subsistence, and numbers of 
horses were slain to furnish food for the hungry multitudes that surrounded 
them. 

On the 2nd of November, the leading divisions reached Wiazma, and 
Napoleon, flattering himself that he had gained several marches of Ku- 
tusofF, and would not be disquieted by any further hostilities, continued 
his retreat toward Smolensko; but he was soon undeceived. Davoust's 
corps, forming the rear-guard, approached Wiazma on the 3rd, and was 
there so severely attacked by Milaradowitch and the Cossacks, that he 
was driven through the streets of that town at the point of the bayonet, 
and lost more than six thousand men. The corps of Davoust had, pre- 
vious to this action, lost no less than ten thousand men by sickness, fatigue 
and desertion since the retreat commenced ; and it was now so reduced 
that Napoleon directed Ney with his corps to take the rear, and cover, 
thenceforward, the movements of the army. 

The weather, though cold and frosty at night, had hitherto been bright 
and clear during the day ; but on the 6th" of November the Russian win- 
ter set in with unwonted severity. Cold fogs first rose from the surface 
of the ground, and obscured the face of the sun ; a few flakes of snow 
floated in the air ; and gradually the light of day declined, and a thick, 
murky gloom overspread the firmament. The wind rose and blew with 
frightful violence, howling through the forest or sweeping over the plains 
with resistless fury ; the snow soon covered the earth, and numbers of 
the troops, in struggling forward, fell into hollows or ditches which were 
L3 



326 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXXVni. 

concealed by the treacherous surface, and perished miserably before 
the eyes of their comrades ; others were swallowed up in the moving 
masses of snow which, like the sands of the desert, accompanied 
the fatal blast. The soldiers were accustomed to death in its ordinary 
forms, but there was something that appalled the stoutest hearts in the 
uniformity of this boundless wilderness, which, like a vast winding-sheet, 
seemed ready to envelope the whole army. Exhausted with fatigue or 
Transfixed with cold, they sank by thousands on the road, while clouds of 
ravens and troops of dogs that had followed the army from Moscow, 
screeched and howled along the march, and often fastened on their vic- 
tims before life was extinct. The only objects visible above the snow 
were the tall pines, which, with their gigantic stems and funereal foliage, 
cast a darker horror over the scene, and seemed to rise up like frowning 
and gloomy monuments to mark the grave of the expiring host. As night 
approached, the sufferings of the soldiers increased : they sought in vain 
for the shelter of a rock, the cover of a friendly habitation, or the warmth 
of a cheerful fire ; and although, at intervals, a blaze might be seen in 
the bivouac, it flashed with a sickly light, and served but to prepare a 
miserable meal of rye mixed with snow-water and horse-flesh, for the 
starving multitude. 

In the midst of these sufferings, the army approached Smolensko ; and, 
at the sight of this promised resting-place, the little remaining discipline 
of the soldiers gave way : officers and privates, infantry and cavalry, 
precipitated themselves in a confused mass toward the town, and, rushing 
through the streets, surrounded the gates of the magazines, and shrieked 
for the food which they so desperately needed. But bread in sufficient 
quantities could not be furnished, and grain in large sacks was thrown out 
to the famishing wretches, who eagerly devoured it in its natural state. 

Smolensko, however, proved to be no place of refuge to the retreating 
army : the few buildings that had escaped the conflagration were insuffi- 
cient to shelter even the sick and wounded ; the magazines were nearly 
empty by reason of the failure of the convoys, and Napoleon received 
such intelligence of the defeat of his two wings and the rapid advance of 
KutusofFon his main body, as rendered a long halt in this desolate town im- 
possible. Oudinot had been defeated with immense loss by Wittgenstein, 
notwithstanding the reenforcements he had received from Eugene ; Tchi- 
chagofT had totally routed the Saxons and Poles on the other flank ; and 
Kutusoff, after a series of successes against the rear-guard under Ney, had 
pressed forward to the neighborhood of Krasnoi with the whole of the 
Russian grand army, and now threatened to intercept Napoleon's retreat. 

In this emergency, Napoleon immediately arranged his order of march 
and set out from Smolensko on the 14th of November. The remains of 
the cavalry, reduced from forty thousand to eight hundred men, were 
placed under the orders of Latour Maubourg ; the shattered battalions of 
infa-ntry and artillery were blended into newly organized corps ; and the 
Emperor took command in person of the united columns of the Young and 
Old Guard. The total amount of his troops was nearly seventy thousand ; 
but of these, not more than forty thousand were in condition to undertake 
offensive movements. Early on the morning of the 1.5th, Napoleon, who 
led the retreat from Smolensko, encountered a part of Kutusoff's army at 
Krasnoi ; but the Russian general, fearful of driving to desperation such 
redoubtable soldiers as the Imperial Guard, confined his operation to an 



1812.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 327 

affair of artillery, and eventually withdrew until that part of the French 
force had passed his position. But the next day, when Eugene followed 
with his corps, Kutusoff entirely blockaded the road, and compelled the 
viceroy, after a ruinous defeat, to make his escape with a small portion 
of his troops across the fields : nevertheless, under cover of night, he 
eventually rejoined the Emperor. On the 17th, Kutusoff brought up his 
whole force to cut off Davoust, who came next on the line of retreat. 
Napoleon, however, heard of his purpose, and countermarched with all the 
troops under his immediate command to aid the marshal in this extremity. 
A general action resulted from these movements. Prince Gallitzin, with 
the Russian centre, commenced the battle by an attack on Roguet and 
the Young Guard. After an obstinate contest, in the course of which a 
square of the Guard was broken and destroyed by the Russian cuirassiers, 
Gallitzin established himself on the Lossmina, near the French centre. 
At this time Davoust advanced, moving slowly in the midst of a cloud of 
Cossacks ; and, being assailed simultaneously in front and flank by Gal- 
litzin and Milaradowitch, his corps was almost totally destroyed. This 
success of the Russians forced Napoleon to look out for his own safety ; 
and, dreading an attack from the combined Russian corps, he retreated 
to Liady with one-half of his Guard ; the other having perished in the 
battle. 

Ney left Sraolensko with the rear-guard on the 17th, and speedily dis- 
covered traces of the ruin of the Grand Army. Cannon, caissons, dead 
horses, and wounded men impeded his progress at every step ; and a far 
more formidable obstacle awaited him in the array of the Russian troops, 
who were drawn up on the banks of the Lossmina to intercept his retreat. 
He was, however, ignorant of his danger, and approached the Russian 
position during a thick fog on the morning of the 18th. Suddenly, the fire 
of forty pieces of cannon shattered his leading column, and the fog clear- 
ing away, disclosed the heights on his front and flank crested by dense 
masses of infantry and artillery. Kutusoff summoned him to capitulate ; 
but Ney replied, " A marshal of France never surrenders !" and instantly 
charged the Russian batteries. His soldiers closed their ranks and marched 
with hopeless devotion against the iron bands of their adversaries ; but 
after a number of desperate attempts, they were driven back with a loss 
of more than six thousand men. Ney, perceiving that the Russian posi- 
tion was impregnable in front, and that Kutusoff was extending his lines 
to the north of the great road to prevq^it him from escaping, formed a col- 
umn, four thousand strong, of his most efficient men, and retreated for an 
hour on the road to Smolensko, when he turned abruptly to the north and 
moved toward the Dnieper. At the village of Syrokenci, his advanced 
post met a peasant, who pointed out a place for crossing the frozen river 
in safety ; and he succeeded, through the night, in transporting to the 
opposite bank three thousand men, without horses or artillery. He even 
waited three hours before commencing the passage, to give the stragglers 
time to join his little detachment, and during this anxious period he wrap- 
ped himself in his cloak, and slept quietly on the margin of the stream. 
The remainder of his corps fell into the hands of the Russians. The 
general result of these several actions near Krasnoi was the capture of 
twenty-six thousand prisoners, three hundred officers, and two hundred and 
twenty-eight pieces of cannon, besides ten thousand men killed ; and all 
this the Russians accomplished with a loss of but two thousand men. 



328 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXVIII. 

Although the Emperor with a part of the army had escaped these ruin- 
ous defeats, he was reduced to the utmost extremity. As the few horses 
that had not perished were reserved for conveying the wounded, Napoleon 
himself marched on foot with a birch stick in his hand ; and it was with 
great difficulty that he and the body of officers who surrounded him, could 
force their way through the crowd of straggling soldiers, camp-followers, 
baggage- wagons, and cannon that thronged the road. 

The retreating army at length reached Orcha, where, for a time, the 
severity of the weather abated ; and, as the magazines of that town were 
well supplied, the troops enjoyed great comparative comfort: but their 
numbers were wofully reduced. There remained but six thousand of the 
thirty-five thousand Imperial Guards : Davoust had saved but four thou- 
sand men out of seventy thousand ; Eugene, eighteen hundred out of forty- 
two thousand ; and Ney, fifteen hundred out of forty thousand. The 
garrison of Orcha and the Polish cavalry in the neighborhood, were added 
to these remnants of the army and somewhat increased its efficiency, and 
the corps of Victor and Oudinot soon after joined the Emperor. Neverthe- 
less, Napoleon was in a very critical situation. He had assembled his 
forces and marched directly upon the Beresina ; but on his route, he 
learned that Minsk and the bridge of Borissow had fallen into the hands 
of the Russians, so that the only passage of the river was lost. Moreover 
a sudden thaw, which had carried away the wintry covering of the stream 
and filled its waters with masses of floating ice, rendered it apparently 
impossible to establish a communication with the opposite shore. Tchi- 
chagoff lay in his front, guarding the river ; Wittgenstein occupied an 
impregnable position on his right ; and KutusofF, with the main Russian 
army, menaced his left. 

* Under these trying circumstances. Napoleon displayed his usual genius 
and firmness of mind. His entire force, after the junction with Victor 
and Oudi:iot, and also with Dombrowsky, who arrived at this crisis, 
amounted to nearly seventy thousand men, of whom forty thousand were 
in a condition to fight. He disposed this whole mass into one column, 
and directed it against TchichagotF, whose corps did not exceed thirty- 
three thousand men, though he was well posted on the marshy shores and 
wooded banks of the Beresina. To conceal his purpose. Napoleon made 
demonstrations toward the Lower Beresina, as if he designed to cross the 
river there, and unite his forces to those of Schwartzenberg. In the 
meantime, the principal part of his * forces were collected on the heights 
of Borissow ; and as soon as he found that his stratagem had diverted the 
attention of the Russians, he commenced the construction of two bridges 
over the Beresina at Studienka. A severe frost on the 24th of November, 
facilitated the approach of the artillery over the marshy meadows to 
the river ; but this circumstance, so far fortunate, greatly hindered the 
completion of the bridges, by filling the water with floating ice. Never- 
theless, the French engineers were indefatigable in their exertions; a 
bridge for foot soldiers was finished, and on the 25th, a brigade of in- 
fantry established itself on the opposite bank. It happened that on the 
night when this was accomplishing, the Russian general Tchaplitz, who 
commanded the western bank of the river at this point, received orders 
from Tchichagoff to join him at the Lower Beresina ; and on the morning 
of the 26th, the French beheld with astonishment the Russian bivouacs 
deserted, and their artillery apparently in retreat. They therefore re- 



1812.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 329 

doubled their exertions, and soon constructed a second bridge for thje 
passage of their cannon and wagons, and thus made themselves masters 
of the communication. Tchaplitz was soon informed of his error, and 
he hastened back to repair it ; but he arrived too late ; the French were 
established in considerable force on the western bank, and he was com- 
pelled to retire. 

When Tchichagoffand Wittgenstein learned that a division of the French 
troops was already posted on the opposite shore, and that it had secured 
the passage of the Beresina, they made im^nediate preparations for attack- 
ing the enemy on both sides of the river ; and Wittgenstein, as a pre- 
liminary movement, intercepted a detachment of Victor's corps, amounting 
to eight thousand men, and forced them to lay down their arms. During 
the night of the 27th, it was agreed that TchichagofT, whom Yermoloff 
had reenforced with the advanced guard of the .Russian .main army, 
should move against the French on the right bank, while Wittgenstein 
pressed Victor and the remainder of the French forces on the left. 

Tchaplitz began the action on the morning of the 28th, by an attack on 
Oudinot ; but the French vanguard having been strengthened by the re- 
mains of Ney's corps, the legion of the Vistula, and the Imperial Guard, 
he was unable to make good his ground until Tchichagoff came up and 
restored the day. The contest, however, was without any decisive result. 
The Russians failed to cut off the retreat of the French, and the loss on 
each side amounted to about five thousand men. 

Wittgenstein was more successful. By his first charge he drove Vic- 
tor to a retreat, and as the only avenue of escape lay across the two 
bridges over the Beresina, those conveyances were immediately thronged 
with a confused mass of fugitives, who trampled each other in their flight, 
and blockaded the passage by the madness of their efforts. As the Rus- 
sian corps successively gained ground, their batteries formed a vast semi- 
circle, which played incessantly on the bridges, and augmented to des- 
peration the terror of the multitude who were struggling to cross over. 
In the midst of this confusion, the artillery-bridge broke down, and the 
crowds upon it, being pressed forward by those in the rear, were precipi- 
tated into the water and drowned. Infantry, cavalry and artillery now 
rushed upon the other bridge, and dashed with their horses and gun- 
carriages through the mass of people, crushing some beneath the wheels 
and horses' feet, like victims before the car of Juggernaut, and pushing 
others over the sides of the bridge. 

In these moments of agony, all varieties of character were exhibited — 
selfishness with its baseness, cowardice with its meanness, and heroism 
with its power and generosity. Soldiers seized infants from their ex- 
piring mothers, and vowed to adopt them as their own ; officers harnessed 
themselves to sledges, to extricate their wounded companions ; privates 
threw themselves on the snow beside their dying officers, and strove, at 
the risk of incurring captivity or death, to solace their last moments. In 
the midst of this terrific scene, Victor, who had nobly sustained the 
arduous duty of covering the retreat during the whole day, arrived with 
the reai'-guard at the entrance of the bridge. His troops, with stern 
severity, opened a passage for themselves through the helpless multitude 
who thronged the bridge and the shore adjoining it, whom despair and 
misery had at length rendered incapable of exertion, and who now could 
neither be persuaded nor forced to cross to the opposite bank. These 



330 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XXXVIII. 

horrors continued throughout the night, and when the morning dawned, 
Victor saw the Russian advanced guard approaching ; the destruction of 
the bridge, therefore, became indispensable to the safety of the French 
army, and orders were given to burn it. A frightful cry arose from the 
host on the eastern shore of the river, who were too late awakened to the 
realities of their situation : numbers rushed on the burning bridge, and, 
to avoid the flames, jumped into the water, while, the greater proportion 
wandered in helpless misery along the river, and beheld their last hopes 
expire with the receding columns of their countrymen. 

This dreadful passage of the'Beresina completed the ruin of the Grand 
j^-my, which lost during its continuance, twenty-five pieces of cannon, 
sixteen thousand men in prisoners, and twelve thousand in slain. The 
corps of Victor and Oudinot were reduced to the deplorable state of the 
troops that came from Moscow, and the whole army, having lost all ap- 
pearance of military order, marched in a confused mass along the road 
to Wilna, harassed at each step by the Cossacks, who cut off every strag- 
gler and made constant attacks on the rear-guard. In the midst of the 
general ruin, a number of officers organized themselves into a guard, 
called the Sacred Squadron, for the Emperor's protection. The gentle- 
men who composed it discharged with heroic fidelity the task assigned to 
them, and executed without murmuring all the duties of common soldiers : 
but the severity of the cold soon destroyed their horses, and they, as well 
as the Emperor, were again compelled to pursue their route on foot 
through the snow. At night, their bivouac was formed in the middle of 
the still unbroken squares of the Old Guard, who sat around the watch- 
fires on their haversacks, with their elbows on their knees, their heads 
resting on their hands, and crowding close together, strove by assuming 
this posture to repress the pangs of hunger and gain additional warmth. 
On the 5th of December, Napoleon arrived at Smorgoni. He there 
collected his marshals around him, dictated a bulletin which fully de- 
veloped the horrors and disasters of the retreat, explained his reasons for 
immediately returning to Paris — which were connected with a conspiracy 
soon to be related — and after bidding them all an affectionate farewell, 
set out in a sledge at ten o'clock in the evening for the French capital, 
accompanied by Caulincourt and Lobau, leaving the command of the 
army to Murat. 

The departure of the Emperor increased the disorganization of the 
troops. The officers ceased to obey their generals, the generals disre- 
garded the marshals, and the marshals set at defiance the authority of 
Murat. The private soldiers, relieved from the duty of protecting their 
Emperor, forgot everything but the instinct of self-preservation. The 
colonels hid the eagles in their haversacks or buried them in the ground; 
the inferior officers dispersed themselves to look after their own safety ; 
and indeed, nothing was thought of but the urgent pangs of hunger and 
the terrible severity of the cold. If a soldier dropped, his comrades in- 
stantly fell on him, and, before life was extinct, tore from him his cloak, 
his money and the bread he carried in his bosom ; when he died, some one 
of them would sit on his body for the sake of the temporary warmth it 
afforded ; and when it became cold, he, too, would often drop beside his 
companion to rise no more. The watch-fires at night were surrounded by 
exhausted men, Avho crowded like spectres about the blazing piles ; and, 
in the morning, the melancholy bivouacs were marked by circles of bodies 
as lifeless as the ashes at their feet. 



1812.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 331 

Nevertheless, the fatal retreat continued to Wilna ; and although be- 
tween Smorgoni and that city no less than twenty thousand men in strag- 
gling detachments had joined the army, scarcely fo^-ty thousand in all 
reached its gates. Here, the troops found an abundance of food ; but they 
had scarcely begun to refresh themselves from the immense magazines 
that the city contained, when the roar of the Russian cannon compelled 
them to renew their flight. They rushed out of the gates on the evening 
of Dt^cember 10th, and at the foot of the first hill beyond the town aban- 
doned the remainder of their cannon and wagons, including the equipage 
of Napoleon and the treasure-chest of the army. The Russians imme- 
diately took possession of Wilna, and found within its walls, in addition to 
a large amount of magazines and military stores, fourteen thousand sol- 
diers and two hundred and fifty officers, who preferred surrenderino- as 
prisoners of war to continuing their march. 

On the 12th December the army arrived at Kowno, on the Niemen, 
and on the 13th, they passed over the river. As. the coverino- force in 
the rear, under the command of Ney, defiled across the bridge, it was 
seen that the remnant of the Imperial Guard consisted of but three hun- 
dred men. Before quitting Kowno, Ney seized a musket, and made a 
final stand with the few men he could rally around him. He maintained 
his post for several hours against the whole Russian advanced guard ; 
when the retreat of all the men who would march was secured, he 
slowly retired ; and he was the last man of the Grand Army who left the 
Russian territory. 

The first halting place on the German side of the Niemen was Gum- 
binnen ; and General Mathieu Dumas had just entered the house of a 
French physician in that town, when a man followed him wrapped in a 
large cloak, having a long beard, his visage blackened by gunpowder, his 
whiskers half burned by fire, but his eyes sparkling with undecayed 
lustre. "At last, then, "here I am," said the stranger: '-'what! General 
Dumas, do you not know me ? I am the rear-guard of the Grand Army, 
Marshal Ney. I have fired the last musket-shot on the bridge of Kowno; 
I have thrown into the Niemen the last gun we possessed ; and I have 
walked hither, as you see me, across the forests." 

The scattered French troops continued to retreat through the Polish 
territories, still hunted down by the Russians and Cossacks. They made 
a brief stand at Koningsberg, and, hastening thence with an additional 
loss of ten thousand men, they finally reached Dantzic in the latter part 
of January, 1813, when the Russians gave over the pursuit. The losses 
of the French in this disastrous campaign may be thus estimated : 

Slain in battle, 12,5 000 

Died of cold and famine, .... 132,000 
Prisoners, Soldiers, - - . . 190 000 

" Officers, 3^000 

" Generals, .... 49 



Total loss, . - 450,048 

The eagles and standards that fell into the hands of the Russians 
amounted to seventy-five, and the artillery, to nine hundred and twenty, 
nine guns. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

EVENTS IN FRANCE FOLLOWING THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 

Napoleon outstripped his own couriers in his journey. He trayersed 
Poland and Germany in an exceedingly brief space of time, and arrived 
at Paris on the 18th of December, before the officers of the government 
were aware that he had quitted the army. He held a levee at nine 
o'clock on the following morning, and, as the news of his unexpected 
return spread quickly through the metropolis, it was numerously attended. 
The bulletin that he dictated at Smorgoni, containing the details of his 
disasters, had not yet reached Paris, and no other feeling than that of 
surprise at the sudden reappearance of the Emperor pervaded the minds 
of his guests : but in the course of that day the bulletin was received and 
published. No words can paint the stupor, consternation and astonish- 
ment' of the inhabitants, when this terrible overthrow was promulgated. 
The calamity was even exaggerated by the public terror ; it was thought 
that the old system of concealment and deception had been practiced on 
this, as on all previous occasions ; that the army had in fact been utterly 
annihilated, and that Napoleon was literally the sole survivor. 

Gloom and disquietude, therefore, overspread every countenance at the 
levee of the succeeding day, and all felt the utmost anxiety to hear what 
details Napoleon himself might furnish as to the actual extent of the 
overthrow. The Emperor, on his own part, was calm and collected ; 
and, so far from seeking to evade the questions that every one was eager 
to put, he anticipated their wishes by a lengthened recital of the events. 
" Moscow," he said, in the course of his remarks, " had fallen into our 
hands ; we had surmounted every obstacle ; even the conflagration in no 
degree lessened the prosperous state of our affairs ; but the rigor of 
winter induced upon the army the most frightful calamities. In a few 
nights, all was changed, and the losses we then experienced would have 
broken my heart if, in such circumstances, I had been accessible to any 
other sentiments than a desire for the welfare of my people." 

The admissions and firmness of the Emperor had a surprising eflfect in 
restoring public confidence, and dissipating the impression produced by 
the greatest external disaster recorded in history. The confidence of the 
people in his fortune returned, and his star appeared to emerge from the 
clouds that had so deeply obscured it. His words, eagerly gathered and 
repeated, soon circulated through the public journals ; addresses, con- 
taining assurance of unshaken loyalty were presented by the public bodies 
of Paris, and similar proofs of devotion speedily followed from all parts 
of the Empire. But, though Napoleon was not insensible to these flat- 
tering testimonials of attachment, his thoughts were now more occupied 
with the incidents of a newly-detected conspiracy, than with a nation's 
homage. 

This extraordinary event, of which the Emperor received intelligence 
a short time before he left the army in Russia, might well arrest his 
attention ; as it nearly overturned his government, and showed conclu- 
sively that, despite all professions of fidelity, both his own authority and 



1812.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 333 

the prospects of succession in his family, rested on a sandy basis. An 
obscure but able man, named Malet, had, by reason of his restless and 
enterprising character, been detained in custody at Paris for more than 
four years ; and this person, in the solitude of his cell, conceived a pro- 
ject for overturning the Imperial dynasty. In connexion with two 
accomplices — Lafon, an old abbe and fellow-prisoner, and Rateau, a cor- 
poral of the prison guard — he had long meditated his plan, and the whole 
was to reston a fabricated report of Napoleon's death. To support this 
story, he forged a decree of the Senate, abolishing the Imperial govern- 
ment, and creating himself, General Malet, governor of Paris. Various 
orders on the treasury were also forged, intended to dispel the doubts or 
shake the fidelity of the individuals to whom he should address himself. 
Having completed these preliminary arrangements, he easily escaped 
from his confinement, dressed himself in the uniform of a general of 
brigade, and repaired to the barrack -gate of the 2nd regiment and 10th 
cohort : but, being denied admission, without the orders of the colonel, 
Soulier, he went to the house of that oflicer and informed him that the 
Emperor had been killed on the 7th of October, at Moscow, that the Sen- 
ate had taken its measures, and that he had himself been appointed 
governor of Paris. The forged decree that he immediately displayed 
was well calculated to deceive the most experienced eye, from the pre- 
cision with which it had been drawn, and the seeming genuineness of the 
signatures appended to it : but Malet did not rely on this alone. The de- 
cree contained the appointment of Soulier as general of brigade, and 
Malet exhibited with it a treasury order for one hundred thousand francs 
for his use. Deceived, or won, Soulier fell into the snare, and accom- 
panied Malet to the barrack-yard. 

The chief difficulty of the enterprise was here to be surmounted ; but 
Malet proved himself equal to the task he had undertaken. He assumed 
a decided tone ; ordered the gates to be opened ; mustered the soldiers by 
torch-light ; announced the Emperor's death ; and commanded the drums 
to beat that the cohort might assemble and listen to the Senate's decree. 
Yielding to the habit of obedience, suspecting no deceit, and familiar 
with similar changes during the Revolution, the soldiers instantly con- 
formed to these orders. Malet next directed a body of the troops to 
march with him to the prison of La Force, where he liberated Generals 
Lahorie and Guidal, sturdy republicans, who had long been confined by 
orders of Napoleon. They were immediately put in command of detach- 
ments, and the three moved in different directions to gain possession of 
the principal posts of the capital. These measures were successful. 
Savary, the minister of police, was arrested in his bed, and conducted to 
prison : Pasquier, the prefect of police, was treated in the same manner ; 
the Hotel de Nelle was occupied by Soulier, and Malet took possession of 
th? Place Vendome. A number of other public functionaries, including 
the actual governor of Paris, were also arrested ; and the whole was ac- 
coiuplished with such ease, that Malet, conceiving his power to be already 
esta'olished, imprudently ventured without a sufficient guard into the hotel 
of the adjutant-general, Doucet, where he met Laborde ;^ and that officer, 
suspectyig something was wrong, intrepidly ordered Doucet's attendants 
to arrest Malet. This act of course, disconcerted at a blow the whole 
conspiracy -, the deception was exposed ; and the troops with shouts of 
" Vive I'Empereur !" returned to their duty. Nevertheless, the power 



334 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XXXIX. 

thus suddenly defeated, would in a short time have proved irresistible. 
Had Malct succeeded in arresting Doucet, Savary says that, " he would 
in a few moments have been master of almost everything; and in a 
country so much influenced by the contagion of example, it is impossible 
to say where his success would have stopped. He would have had pos- 
session of the treasury, the post-office, the telegraph, and the entire com- 
mand of the National Guard. He would soon have learned, by the 
arrest of all couriers, the state of affairs in Russia, and nothing could 
have prevented him from making the Emperor prisoner on *his solitary 
journey to Finance." 

The defeat of this conspiracy gave Napoleon abundant cause for self- 
gratulation, but its previous existence furnished equal reason for despond- 
ency. He saw at once, and for the first time, that the Revolution had in 
fact destroyed the foundations of hereditary succession, ard that the 
greatest achievements of him who had won the diadem, afforded no secu- 
rity that the crown would descend to his heirs — for in the crisis of this 
conspiracy, his son seemed, by common consent, to have been overlooked, 
and it was as a matter taken for granted, that his own death vacated the 
throne and rendered a new election indispensable. Yet, althoujih Napo- 
leon was from this moment convinced that his dynasty was unstable, and 
the hope of his son's succession at least equivocal, he took extraordinary 
measures to secure both against the threatened contingency ; and caused 
a decree to be passed by the Senate, securing, as ingeniously and firmly 
as any mere enactment could secure, the claims of his posterity to the 
throne of France. 

The next care of the Emperor was to raise an army to replace the 
one he had lost. He demanded from the Senate an addition to the exist- 
ing military force of the Empire, of three hundred and fifty thousand 
mijn, which that obsequious body immediately granted ; and the conscrip- 
tion was enforced with such zeal and rapidity, that within a few months 
the whole number was actually enrolled for service. 

When this important measure was completed. Napoleon set about 
reconciling his differences with the Holy See : for, having one half of 
Europe openly arrayed against him, and the other half but doubtfully 
enlisted under his banners, he could no longer afford to brave the hostility 
of the head of the Church. After the pope had been arrested in 1809, 
he was brought to Grenoble and thence transferred to Savona, where he 
endured the rigorous treatment of a close prisoner. But Napoleon, at 
his departure for Moscow, not deeming Savona sufficiently secure, caused 
his holiness to be removed to Fontainebleau. Here, though a prisoner, 
he had a handsome suite of apartments and was respectably attended, but 
was excluded from»the society of those he most wished to meet. It has 
already been mentioned, that Napoleon's original intention in seizing the 
person of the pope, was to compel his holiness to legislate for the ChurcA 
in accordance to the Emperor's views, and thus, in etfect, unite the tiara 
and the imperial crown on his own head : but the disasters of the Rus- 
sian campaign cut short this splendid project, and awakened Napoleon to 
the necessity of an amicable adjustment of his quarrel with the pope. 
He therefore opened a communication with the reverend father, which 
was graciously received ; and, after a sufficient exchange c( compli- 
ments, he repaired with the Empress to Fontainebleau and had an inter- 
view with his prisoner. The pope was so fiiscinated with Napoleon s 



1813.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 335 

powers of conversation and artful complaisance, that he very soon signed 
a concordat, which settled the chief points of dispute between the court 
of the Tuileries and the Holy See, and that, too, in a manner eminently 
favorable to Napoleon's ambitious purposes. 

Napoleon manifested, as well he might, the greatest satisfaction at the 
finishing of this concordat. The next morning, decorations, presents and 
orders were profusely scattered among the chief persons of the pope's 
household. The restrictions on the personal freedom of the pope were 
removed, and orders were issued for the liberation of the Emperor's 
indomitable antagonist, the Cardinal Pacca. But while Napoleon flat- 
tered himself that he had surmounted all future difficulties with the 
Church, a great change was going on in the papal cabinet. The moment 
that the pope's councillors learned what had been done, they saw that 
their master was overreached, and that the Emperor had wheedled him 
into greater concessions than he had demanded when in the plenitude of 
his power. They therefore insisted on the formal retraction of the con- 
cordat, which the pope accordingly executed on the 24th of March. Na- 
poleon, however, with equal moderation and prudence, so far from resent- 
ing this proceeding, took no notice of it, but published the concordat as 
one of the fundamental laws of the state, and caused its provisions to be 
enforced. 

The other measures of Napoleon, previous to the renewal of the war 
in Central Europe, had reference to the strengthening and organization 
of his military establishment ; and it soon appeared that, despite all her 
losses, France was still able to take the field with armies of a formidable 
description. 



CHAPTER XL. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1813. 

When the French retreating army, by reason of the temporary sus- 
pension of the Russian pursuit, had gained a brief respite in which to 
recruit its strength and partially reorganize its shattered columns, its 
officers entertained a hope that a position on the line of the Vistula could 
be maintained ; but the defection of the Prussians on the one hand, and of 
the Austrians on the other — who virtually abandoned the cause of Napo- 
leon as they approached their respective frontiers — by endangering their 
communications with France, rendered this plan impracticable. And, 
indeed, the activity of Wittgenstein left the French no extended leisure 
for any preparations whatever. On the 15th of January, his vanguard 
crossed the Vistula, and, spreading in all directions, circulated proclama- 
tions, calling on the inhabitants to take up arms, and join in the great 
work of liberating Europe from the thraldom of the tyrant. Wittgen- 
stein's \roops marched in two column^oward Berlin; one by the I'oute 
of Koningsberg and Elbing, and the other by Friedland and Tilsit. On 
their march, they made themselves masters of Pillau, with a garrison of 
twelve hundred men, and they afterward continued their march unop- 



336 HISTORY OF EUROPE. Chap. XL. 

posed, and were received with enthusiasm everywhere throughout Old 
Prussia. A third column of the Russian army, composed of Platoff's 
Cossacks and some light cavalry, moved upon Dantzic, and commenced 
the blockade of that fortress. A fourth, under the orders of TchichagofT, 
marched through East Prussia, and arrived at Marienberg on the 1,5th of 
January. A fifth, immediately commanded by TormasofF, and accom- 
panied by Kutusoff and the Emperor Alexander in person, advanced 
through Wilna and Lithuania, and reached Plozk on the 5th of February. 
And a sixth, led by Milaradowitch, Sacken and DoctorofF, followed a 
diverging line to the south, by Grodno and Jalowke. On the 24th of 
February, these six columns were concentrated at Kalisch, where Alex- 
ander established his head-quarters. 

In the meantime, Murat, finding himself pressed on all points by the 
advancing columns of the victorious Russians, having sustained great 
losses in his retreat, and despairing of a final escape from his pursuers, 
conceived that the time had arrived when every one should look to self- 
preservation ; and, on the 17th of January, he suddenly gave up his com- 
mand, and set out post-haste for his own dominions in the south of Italy. 
Eugene, on whom the command of the army devolved, made great efforts 
to arrest the evil threatened by this unmanly desertion of Murat : but the 
utmost that he could accomplish was of little avail in checking the tide of 
disaster. He was successively driven from every position, until, on the 
12th of March, he took refuge behind the Elbe, and rested on the fortresses 
of Torgau, Magdebourg, Wittemberg, and the intrenched camp at Pirna. 

The Russians closely followed Eugene's retreat, but during their march 
they met with a severe loss in the death of Kutusoff, who expired at 
Buntzlau, on the 6th of March, of a malignant fever. Wittgenstein was 
promoted to the chief command, and passing onward, soon reached Berlin, 
where his head-quarters were established on the 11th. 

The uninterrupted success of the Russians, and — with the exception 
of a k\v blockaded fortresses — the entire deliverance of Prussia from the 
French domination, could not but have a powerful effect on the disposition 
of the Prussian cabinet, as well as on the kingdom at large. The king, 
individually, inclined to keep faith with France, from a feeling that his 
honor would be compromised by deserting his ally in misfortune ; and he 
therefore made proposals for a new alliance, more in conformity to the 
relative situation of the two powers, and of course much more favorable 
to his own interests than the preceding treaty. But at the same time, he 
did not neglect to give weight to his proposals, by putting the country in 
a condition to maintain a war, if war should be the result of his nego- 
tiations. 

By a royal decree, dated at Breslau, and issued as early as the 3rd of 
February, an appeal was made to young men of all ranks, from the age 
of seventeen to twenty-four, not subject to the legal conscription, to enter 
the army in the capacity of volunteers, and be annexed to the regiments of 
infantry and cavalry already in the service ; and, lest this appeal should be 
disregarded, some clauses of a compulsory nature were incorporated with 
the decree. But no compulsion was needed. The disasters of Jena and 
Auerstadt, the indignities which<they had endured in their capital from 
the brutality of Napoleon, and the long career of outrage and exaction to 
which they had been subjected by his orders, roused as with a trumpet- 
note the entire male population of Prussia, the instant that the hand of 



1813.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 337 

the oppressor was removed. On all sides, there was a unanimous cry 
for arms. The volunteers presented themselves in such multitudes, that 
the government functionaries, so far from being able to supply them with 
weapons, were not able for a considerable time even to perfect the record 
of their names. 

But patriotic ardor and devotion, though indispensable elements of 
military strength, cannot of themselves create an efficient army : disci- 
pline, training, practical organization, must come to the aid of courage and 
enthusiasm. Fortunately, in these essentials, without which her utmost 
efforts would have proved unavailing, Prussia already stood preeminent. 
The wisdom of her government had provided both the framework in her 
army, and the experience among her people, capable of rapidly turning 
the whole strength of the nation to warlike achievements. 

Under these circumstances, the king's proposals for a new alliance 
with France were entitled to Napoleon's consideration ; but he, either 
doubting the faith of Frederic William, or despising his power, flatly 
refused to treat on equitable terms. The king, being thus fully exon- 
erated from obligation to France, readily acceded to the course which his 
ministers had long urged upon him ; namely, a league with Russia, which, 
under the designation of the treaty of Kalisch, was concluded on the 1st 
of March. 

By this treaty, an alliance, offensive and defensive, was established be- 
tween Russia and Prussia, for the prosecution of the war with France. 
Neither of the contracting powers was to conclude a peace, nor a truce, 
without the other's consent ; both were to urge the accession of Austria 
to their compact, and to treat immediately with England for the subsidies 
of which Prussia stood in great need ; and, by an additional article, the 
Emperor of Russia bound himself not to lay down his arms until Prussia 
was reconstituted in all respects — statistical, financial, and geographical 
— as she had stood anterior to the war of 1806. 

This treaty between Russia and Prussia, together with the advance of 
their united armies to the Elbe, caused an immediate and general insur- 
rection against the power of France, on the right bank of that river: but 
Saxony yet remained undecided ; and although the ferment was almost 
as vehement in her provinces as in the Prussian states, no symptoms of 
disaffection had been exhibited by her government, and it .was well known 
that the benefits her sovereign had received from Napoleon, bound him to 
the interests of France by ties not easily dissolved. Still, the reputation 
of the King of Saxony for probity and justice, rendered it of great impor- 
tance to obtain, if possible, the moral weight of his adhesion to the Ger- 
manic league ; and his states lay so immediately in the theatre of war, 
between the hostile countries, that it became of the last consequence to 
secure the support of his forces in the field, and the protection of his for- 
tresses on the Elbe. The allied sovereigns, therefore, made every exer- 
tion to induce Frederic Augustus to join the league ; but he steadily 
refused to abandon his benefactor. Denmark, also, adhered to the for- 
tunes of Napoleon. But Sweden, whose king, Bernadotte, smarted under 
the aggressions and indignities of his former master, readily threw herself 
into the scale against France ; and the Emperor of Austria, despite his 
family alliance with the great military chieftain, was too keenly sensible 
of his own interests, and too deeply concerned in the permanence of Eu- 
ropean freedom, to neglect this opportunity of aiding to crush the ferocious 



338 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XL. 

despot whose remorseless ambition had spread death, and misery, and 
ruin, over so large a portion of the civilized world. Negotiations were 
also opened with Murat, King of Naples ; but for the time they led to no 
other result than a widening of the breach between him and Napoleon. 

While separate interests were thus beginning to alienate from each other 
the members of the great war confederacy which sprung from the military 
triumphs of the French Revolution, Prussia was making prodigious efforts 
to maintain the position she had so nobly assumed. To increase the 
general enthusiasm, Frederic William instituted the order of the Iron 
Cross, to reward his subjects for the sacrifices they were called on to 
make in behalf of their country; and he requested all classes to pour 
their gold and silver ornaments into the public treasury, and receive in 
exchange iron ornaments of the same form and fashion, which they might 
preserve in their families— a monument at once of past wealth and suc- 
ceeding patriotism. Shortly afterward, a proclamation was issued to the 
inhabitants of those provinces which the treaty of Tilsit had wrested from 
Prussia, inviting them to take up arms for the independence of Germany. 
The effect of these measures was magical. The scholars of the univer- 
sities, the professors, the burghers, alike took up arms : the cares of in- 
terest, the pursuits of science, the labors of education, were forgotten. 
Art was turned to warlike preparation; industry to forming implements 
for the battle-field; and genius, to fanning the general ardor. Korner 
gave vent to the popular sentiment in strains of immortal verse, which 
were repeated and sung by thousands and tens of thousands as they 
marched to the points of rendezvous. Meanwhile, the women who had 
sent their precious ornaments to the treasury, received others in return 
beautifully wrought in iron, and bearing this simple inscription, " I gave 
gold for iron ; 1813." In a short time, no male inhabitants but old men 
and boys were to be met in the streets ; and not an ornament of gold or 
silver decorated the persons of the women, or the windows of the shops. 
Thus arose the famous order of the Iron Cross, in Prussia, and thus com- 
menced the beautiful work in Berlin iron, so well known and so highly 
prized throughout every country of Europe. It must be confessed that 
chivalry cannot boast a nobler fountain of honor, nor fashion a more 
touching memorial of virtue. 

So long as the French troops maintained their footing on the left bank 
of the Elbe, the general fermentation among the inhabitants of the prov- . 
inces in that quarter, was limited to a sort of passive resistance, which, 
nevertheless, proved extremely embarrassing to the French authorities. 
But when the allies crossed that river, and the continued advance of the 
Russians inspired general confidence in the firmness of Alexander, the 
feelings of the people could no longer be suppressed. Insurrections be- 
came common, particularly in Bremen, and various parts of Westphalia; 
and the parties of Russian horse that traversed the sandy plains of 
Northern Germany, were swelled by crowds of volunteers. At the same 
time, the officers of the states in the Rhenish Confederacy, who had been 
made prisoners in the Russian campaign, formed themselves into a legion; 
declared every German who should bear arms against his brethren a 
traitor to his country, and bound themselves by a solemn oath to combat 
Napoleon even unto death. The Tugenbund became now the soul of a 
vast conspiracy, the ramifications of which were so extensive, the pro- 
ceedings so secret, and the influence so great, that it would have been in 



1813.J HISTORYOFEUROPE. 339 

the highest degree dangerous, but that it was directed, in its principal 
branches, by exalted wisdom, and inspired in all by devoted patriotism, 
A Cromwell, or a Napoleon, would have found in its impassioned bands 
the ready elements of revolutionary elevation ; but none such appeared 
in the fatherland. The streams of popular enthusiasm, directed by, not 
directing, the rulers of the country, instead of being wasted in the selfish- 
ness of individual ambition, were turned, in one overwhelming flood, 
against the common enemy. 

The positions of the French troops on the left bank of the Elbe, when 
the allies resolved to cross that river, were as follows : Davoust occupied 
Dessau and the line of the river thence to Torgau ; Victor lay between 
the Elbe and the Saale ; Grenier, with his Italians, was a little in the 
rear, at Halle ; Regnier, with the remains of the Saxons and Durutte's 
division, held Dresden, and stretched along to the foot of the Bohemian 
mountains ; and the extreme left under Vandamme, with its head-quarters 
at Bremen, occupied Hamburg and the mouth of the Elbe. The earliest 
reenforcements from France, twenty-four thousand strong, under Lauris- 
ton, drawn from the first ban of the National Guard, reached Magdebourg 
on the "^Qth of March, and augmented the centre of the army grouped 
around that fortress, to nearly fifty thousand men; while twenty thousand 
were in the neighborhood of Dresden, and fifteen thousand on the Lower 
Elbe. In addition to these forces, Ney and Marmont each commanded a 
body of reserve then forming on the Rhine, and Bertrand's corps was on 
its march from Italy, by the route of the Tyrol ; its leading columns 
having already reached Augsburg, in the plains of Bavaria. Troops, 
important from their numerical amount, though far removed from the 
theatre of action and shut up in strongholds, where they could contribute 
little to the issue of the conflict, still belonged to France. Their number 
in all was nearly seventy thousand men ; five-and-thirty thousand of these 
were blockaded in Dantzic, and the remainder were in Thorne, Modlin, 
Zamosc, and Graudentz on the Vistula, and Spandau, Stettin, Custrin, 
and Glogau on the Oder. The condition of these men, however, was so 
miserable, and they were so reduced in physical strength by the hard- 
ships of the Russian campaign, that they could not be relied on for opera- 
tions in the field ; besides, the calamities they had undergone had sown 
within them the seeds of a disease more fatal than the sword of the 
enemy, and which soon developed itself among those crowded yet ineffi- 
cient garrisons. 

Of the Prussian forces, there were twenty-five thousand regular troops 
in Silesia under the command of Marshal Blucher, besides twenty thou- 
sand fresh recruits who garrisoned the fortresses in that quarter; the corps 
of D'York, advancing from East Prussia, was fifteen thousand strong ; 
Bulow commanded ten thousand near Berlin ; and five thousand lay in 
Pomerania. Frederic William, therefore, could at once bring fifty-five 
thousand troops into the field, without drawing any reenforcements from 
his fortresses. In addition to this, he had thirty-five thousand in a state of 
forwardness, to blockade the fortresses on the Oder and act as a reserve 
to the armies in the field ; and this body was daily receiving such acces- 
sions of force from new levies, that it would soon amount to no less than 
one hundred and fifty thousand men. 

The Russian armies at this period were much more considerable in the 
aggregate, though the losses of the late campaign had seriously thinned 



340 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XL. 

the ranks of those near the destined theatre of war, and the great propor- 
tion of the effective troops were yet on their march from the interior prov- 
inces of the Empire, and could not arrive on the Elbe before the middle 
of July ; so that, for immediate operations in Saxony, not more than seventy 
thousand Russians could be relied on ; and these, added to the fifty-five 
thousand Prussians ready to cooperate with them, raised the effective al- 
lied force to a hundred and twenty-five thousand men. 

The first movement in this campaign was the occupation of Hamburg 
by the allies. This town was garrisoned by three thousand French troops 
under St. Cyr, but on the approach of Tettenborn with three thousand in- 
fantry and the same number of Cossacks, St. Cyr evacuated the place. 
About half a mile from the city, the Russian videttes were met by the 
greater part of the inhabitants in a mass, who filled all the houses, gar- 
dens, fields, lanes, and streets of the suburbs. The magistrates with the 
keys of the town appeared at the gates, while thirty maidens, dressed in 
white robes, strewed wreaths of flowers before their deliverers. Shouts 
of acclamation now arose from the multitude which seemed to rend the 
very heavens : " Long live the Russians ! Long live Alexander ! Long 
live Old England !" burst from tens of thousands of voices, and the stee- 
ples, the houses, and the very earth trembled with their cheers. 

The worthy Hamburgers could not cease to express their astonishment, 
that so small a body of men had delivered them from the burdensome op- 
pression under which they had labored for seven long years ; and their 
astonishment was not a little increased when they beheld the hardy chil- 
dren of the desert — the Kalmucks and Bashkirs — disdaining the civilized 
luxTiries of houses and beds, pile their arms and lie down beside their 
steeds in the squares of the city, with no pillow but their saddles, and no 
covering but their cloaks. 

The evacuation of Hamburg was followed by a similar movement at 
Bremen and Lunenburg ; at which latter place, General Morand was so 
totally defeated, that his whole force, consisting of three thousand men, 
was either killed or made prisoners, and himself slain on the field. A 
general insurrection between the Elbe and the Weser immediately ensued, 
and the French abandoned that entire district. The Hanse Towns took 
up arms and expelled the French authorities, while those portions of the 
electorate of Hanover whence the enemy retreated, proclaimed their law- 
ful sovereign, the King of England, and a regency was formed of Hano- 
verian noblemen at Hamburg, to direct the eifortsof the newly-recovered 
terrhory. Here, too, a universal cry for arms arose ; and the call was 
so promptly answered by England, that, within two months after Prussia 
had declared her intentions, there were landed on the coast of Germany, 
for the use of the allies, the entire military equipments for a hundred and 
fifty thousand men. 

The allies now began to approach the Elbe in force. Wittgenstein 
broke up from Berlin and moved thither in two columns : one of which, 
commanded by himself,, moved toward Wittemburg ; the other, under 
Bulow, toward Dessau. Borotel, with fifteen thousand Prussians, marched 
in the direction of Magdebourg ; and Blucher, with the army.o^f Siles:a, 
in conjunction with Winzingerode at the head of ten thousand Russians, 
directed his steps toward Dresden from the side of Breslau. The King 
of Saxony was in no condition to withstand such forces, and he entered 
into a convention for evacuating his capital ; this was acceded to, and 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 341 

Davoust, who commanded the French garrison of Dresden, withdrew ac- 
cordingly, after blowing up an arch of the beautiful bridge across the 
Elbe, and retired to Leipsic. The allies entered the town the next day, 
March 26th, to the great joy of the inhabitants ; who, notwithstanding the 
adhesion of their sovereign to Napoleon, detested the French alliance and 
Frencli domination as heartily as any people in Germany. 

Eugene made a last stand at Mockern, a little way in front of Magde- 
bourg, on the 4th of April ; but Wittgenstein attacked him so impetuously, 
that the intervention of night alone saved him from a total rout. Witt- 
genstein the next day pursued him to Magdebourg, where Bulow's corps 
established a blockade, while Kleist with another Prussian division took 
post at Dessau ; and in the meantime, Winzingerode, passing through 
Dresden, occupied Halle. Thus, the line of the Elbe was effectually 
brokgn at its two extremities, Hamburg and Dresden, although Eugene 
maintained the centre resting on Magdebourg. 

Napoleon, before setting out to join the army, caused the office and 
dignity of Regent of the Empire to be conferred on the Empress. Marie 
Louiso, with the seat of President of the Council of State. He took his 
departure immediately afterward, and reached Mayence at midnight on 
the 16th of April, where for eight days he devoted his whole time to the 
improvement of the fortifications of that town, and the organization and 
disc'pline of the conscripts. He left Mayence on the 24th, and on the 
following day reached Erfurth. The army which he had assembled at 
this latter place, though deficient in cavalry and artillery, was formidable 
in point of numbers, amounting to nearly a hundred and forty thousand 
men ; besides which, at least forty thousand were arrayed at Magdebourg 
under Eugene. 

The allies were not a little disconcerted when they learned the strength 
of Napoleon's forces ; but, great as might be the risk of a general action, 
they conceived the evils of a retreat at the commencement of the cam- 
paign to be still greater ; and they accordingly resolved to move forward 
and give battle in the plains of Lutzen. On the first of May, the Prus- 
sians were concentrated at Roethe; Wittgenstein, with the main body 
of the Russians occupied Zwenkau ; and Winzingerode and Milarado- 
witch, more in advance, observed the enemy on the roads of Naumberg 
and Chemnitz. While crossing the defile of Grunebach, the head of the 
French column first encountered the allies, whose vanguard, with six 
guns, was posted on the heights of Poserna. A partial action took place, 
at the close of which the allies withdrew ; but this trifling advantage on 
the part of the French was far more than counterbalanced by the death 
of Marshal Bessieres, who was killed by a cannon shot at the first dis- 
charge of the Russian guns. 

On the morning of the 2nd of May, Napoleon, aware that the allies 
were not far distant, but ignorant of their intentions to fight, was pressing 
on toward Leipsic, when he was suddenly aroused by the discharge of 
cannon on his extreme left. He immediately halted his suite, and sur- 
veyed the distant combat with his telescope ; after remaining nearly half 
an hour in deep meditation, he directed the troops to continue their march 
in as close order as possible. Presently, a much louder cannonade 
opened on his right, toward Great and Little Gorschen ; and it became 
obvious that the principal attack was to be made in that quarter, although 
Napoleon could discover no enemy beyond the roofs of the villages. 



342 ^ HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XL. 

In truth, matters had there assumed a serious aspect from the first. 
The French infantry occupied the villages of Gross Gorschen, Klein 
Gorschen, Rahno and Kaia, which lie near each other, somewhat in the 
form of an irregular square, between Lutzen and Pegau. The plain is 
traversed by the deep channel of a rivulet, called the Flossgraben ; and the 
allied army had crossed this stream in small compact columris, which 
emerging from behind the heights, concentrated themselves in four masses, 
without being seen by the French troops. As soon as their formation was 
complete they advanced upon the plain, and opened a heavy concentric 
fire of artillery on Gross Gorschen ; and General Ziethen, with two Prus- 
sian brigades, followed up this attack so vigorously that the French in- 
fantry were speedily driven out of the village, and pursued some distance 
beyond it. The allies, thus encouraged, pressed forward to Klein Gors- 
chen and Rahno, which they carried at the point of the bayonet * both 
villages were soon wrapped in flames, and aid-de-camp after aid-de-camp 
was dispatched to Napoleon for reenforcements. The emergency ad- 
mitted of no delay , and the Emperor immediately sent orders to Macdonald, 
Eugene, Marmont and Bertrand to hasten with their respective corps 
toward the point of danger, while he pushed on in the same direction 
with the main body of his army. 

In the meantime Ney had rallied the broken divisions, and, by a des- 
perate charge, retook the villages ; but it was impossible for him to main- 
tain them against the impetuosity of the Prussian levies, who returned to 
the assault with the coolness of veteran soldiers, and drove the French 
back on the plain ; and as this success was promptly followed up by the 
allied cavalry, Ney's columns were disordered and several regiments of 
conscripts disbanded and fled. Wittgenstein now brought forward his 
reserves to complete the victory, forced the French from Kaia, the key of 
Napoleon's right, and compelled the whole line to give ground. It was 
now six o'clock ; all the French troops who had as yet come into action 
were in full retreat, and the battle seemed to be won by the allies. At 
this crisis, Napoleon advanced with the central corps, checked the flight 
of Ney's defeated columns, and, throwing himself into the midst of the 
fugitives, rallied them in a moment. He then pressed on to Kaia, where 
the allies were strengthening themselves, and retook that village after a 
desperate struggle. Blucher, in turn, now interposed with the Prussian 
reserve, the two parties met in the plain between Kaia and Klein Gors- 
chen, and both maintained their ground at half musket-shot distance, 
exchanging incessant volleys without yielding one step, until the shades 
of evening began to overspread the field. 

This obstinate conflict, however, though it gave no immediate advan- 
tage to either side, was of great importance to Napoleon, as it gained for 
him what alone was requisite to save the day — time, namely, to bring 
forward his reserves. Bertrand, Marmont, and the Imperial Guard soon 
arrived, and presented an array seventy thousand strong, against which 
the allies could muster at the decisive point but forty thousand men. 
Nevertheless, Wittgenstein maintained his ground against this overwhelm- 
ing force until darkness separated the combatants, and his troops bivou- 
acked in and around Gross Gorschen. During the night, the allied 
sovereigns held a council of war, and decided to commence a retreat the 
next morning, which they accordingly did, without the sacrifice of pris- 
oners, standards or artillery. Their loss in the battle of Lutzen amounted 



1813.J HISTORYOFEUROPE. 343 

to fifteen thousand men, killed and wounded ;' while that of the French 
exceeded eighteen thousand, of whom nine hundred were prisoners. 

The allies retired slowly and in admirable order toward Dresden. 
The main body reached that city on the 7th of May, and proceeded 
thence by the road of Silesia to a strongly intrenched position at Bautzen ; 
while Milaradowitch, with the rear-guard, after cutting the arches of the 
bridge of Dresden, established himself among the houses on the right 
bank of the river. 

When the French approached Dresden, the magistrates of the city 
came out of the gates and presented themselves before Napoleon. " Who 
are you ?" said he in a quick and rude tone. " Members of the munici- 
pality," replied the trembling burgomasters. " Have you bread for my 
soldiers ?" " Our resources have been quite exhausted by the requisi- 
tions of the Russians and Prussians." " Ha ! it is impossible, is it ? I 
know no such word. Furnish me bread, and meat, and wine. I know 
all you have done : you deserve to be treated as a conquered people, but 
I spare you from my regard to your king : he is the saviour of your 
country." With these words, he turned aside from the city and proceeded 
to the suburbs of Pirna, where he dismounted and recoftnoitered the banks 
of the river, with a view of forcing a passage to the opposite side. He 
was not, however, seriously opposed by the allies in this project, and by 
the 11th of May, he had succeeded in transferring to the right bank a 
considerable portion of his army. The next day, the King of Saxony 
returned to Dresden, and placed himself and all his resources at the dis- 
posal of the French Emperor : a proceeding in the highest degree gratify- 
ing to Napoleon, as it proved the adherence of a valuable ally, secured 
the protection of a line of fortresses, and restored him to the rank he 
most coveted — the arbiter of the destinies and protector of the thrones of 
European sovereigns. 

But if the adhesion of the King of Saxony was thus a source of satis- 
faction, the position now assumed by Austria gave the highest degree of 
disquietude to Napoleon. He became convinced, from various develop, 
ments, that the Cabinet of Vienna, which of late had pursued a tempo- 
rizing policy in its diplomatic communications with France, was likely to 
throw its influence and power into the hands of his enemies : he therefore 
resolved to intimidate, if possible, the Austrian government, and prevent 
a step so fatal to his ambition. He at the same time opened a secret 
negotiation with the Emperor Alexander, and endeavored by great con- 
cessions to detach him from the league ; but both attempts proved equally 
fruitless. 

Meanwhile, the allied sovereigns had retired to their fortified position, 
around the heights of Bautzen, where they assembled a disposable force 
of ninety thousand men : while Napoleon, after incorporating into his 
army fourteen thousand Saxon troops, had under his immediate command 
fully a hundred and fifty thousand. The allies, therefore, were greatly 
overmatched ; and„ however strong their posifion might be in front, it was 
liable to be turned by an enemy so superior in numbers. 

Napoleon approached Bautzen on the 19th of May, and ordered a par- 
tial attack on the allied right, which ended in a loss of nearly two thou- 
sand men on each side, without any material advantage having been 
gained by either party. In the afternoon of that day, both armies made 
their dispositions for a general action ; the allies occupying a sort of 



344 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XL. 

semi-circle, convex in front, about two and a half leagues in length, with 
their left against the chain of mountains on the Bohemian frontier ; and 
Napoleon, while proposing an attack along their whole line, resolved to 
direct his greatest effort against their right. 

The outposts of the main armies first came in contact with each other 
at eleven o'clock, on the morning of the 20th, when the French com- 
menced the passage of the river Spree, which flowed between the hostile 
camps. The stream was not seriously defended by the allies, and the 
entire French force crossed it by five o'clock in the afternoon. The com- 
bat was then begun by the French right and centre ; in which the former 
was defeated, and the latter was but partially successful ; but both met 
with severe loss, and night separated the combatants before any decisive 
result could be attained. 

The Emperor Napoleon ordered liis troops to bivouac in squares on the 
ground they had won in the centre ; yet the loss he had sustained proved 
the desperate nature of the conflict in which he was engaged, and in- 
spired him whh melancholy forebodings as to the issue of the battle on 
the morrow. The Prussian soldiers, though chiefly young recruits .and 
broucrht under fir#that day for the first time, had evinced the most heroic 
bravery. Not an inch of ground had been wrested from them but by the 
force of overwhelming numbers, and more than ten thousand French and 
Italians lay weltering in their blood around the heights, from which the 
Prussians had drawn off every cannon and every wounded man. Not- 
withstanding his losses, however, Napoleon had gained his principal object; 
namely, to compel the allies to bring their chief strength to the support 
of their centre, and thus weaken their right, where his main blow was to 
be delivered. 

At five o'clock, on the morning of the 21st, the battle was renewed by 
a French attack on the left of the allied position ; but the Emperor 
Alexander had, during the night, sent to that point such reenforcements 
under Milaradowitch, that not only was the first assault repulsed, but 
Oudinot, who came up to support the retreating columns, was also driven 
back with great loss, and pursued, until Macdonald's advance checked 
the victorious Russians. Napoleon was much disconcerted at this 
reverse, but he nevertheless pressed his movements against the enemy's 
centre and right, listening anxiously, in the meantime, for the sound of 
Ney's cannon ; he having dispatched that marshal by a circuitous route 
to turn the position of the allies on its extreme right, and he now waited 
only until the success of that manoeuvre should be declared, in order to 
terminate the battle at a blow. His directions were, that Ney should 
reach the designated point by eleven o'clock ; but at a few minutes past 
ten, the roar of the brave marshal's artillery announced that he had an- 
ticipated even Napoleon's calculations and was already in action. The 
Emperor immediately sent a courier to Paris with a note written in pencil 
to Marie Louise, proclaiming that he had gained the victory, and then set 
off at a gallop with his staff' to his own left, to take advantage of Ney's 
success. 

Intlie moantime, the allies, who were unprepared for Ney's attack, made 
every effort to resist it and secure a retreat. Blucher was commanded 
to check the French marshal's advance at all hazards, and he performed 
this duty so intrepidly, that Ney was compelled to halt for reenforce- 
ments until one o'clock in the afternoon. The manoeuvres of the allies 



1813.] ' HISTORY OF EUROPE. 345 

to protect their right, having now had the desired effect of weakening 
their centre, Napoleon ordered a grand attack of no less than eighty 
thousand men upon this point, and the result was an almost instantaneous 
movement of retreat along the whole allied line. The army fell back in 
two massy columns ; the Russians by the road of Hochkirch and Lobau, 
the Prussians by Wurschen and Weissenberg. 

Then were seen the admirable result of modern discipline, and the 
high spirit that animated both armies. Seated on an eminence whence 
he could survey a great part of the field, Napoleon directed the move- 
ments of more than a hundred thousand men, spread over a surface of 
but three leagues in extent, and moving majestically forward like a 
mighty wave, crested as with sparkling foam by the blaze and smoke of 
a hundred and twenty pieces of artillery. The greater part of this vast 
inundation poured into the valley of Neider Kayna, imd the declining 
sun glanced with indescribable brilliancy on bayonets, helmets, sabres and 
cuirasses, which crowded the level space between the mountains ; while 
the allies were discerned retiring in dark masses under the shade of the 
towering heights in the distance. It was in vain, however, that the 
French strove by the most desperate charges of eight thousand cuirassiers 
to disorder the firm array of the allied infantry : they moved along with 
a steady pace and in unbroken order, until night drew her veil .over the 
field of carnage and of glory ; and at daybreak on the following moi'n- 
ing, the Russians were still in possession of the heights of Weissenberg, 
within cannon shot of the French army. 

The loss of the allies in the battle of Bautzen was fifteen thousand 
men killed and wounded, and fifteen hundred prisoners; that of the 
French amounted to twenty-five thousand. 

Early on the 22nd, Napoleon renewed the pursuit and continued it with 
unabated vigor during the whole day ; but he could gain no trophy of 
victory from his admirably disciplined foes : every baggage-wagon and 
cannon was safely conveyed away, and the Emperor vented his spleen, 
as at Wagram, on his generals, censuring them in the severest terms for 
allowing standards, prisoners and artillery to escape from such over- 
whelming numbers. Duroc was killed by a cannon-ball during this day's 
pursuit, and his death spread a gloom not only over the Emperor's mind, 
but through the whole army : even the marshals of France were free to 
express their disapprobation of a campaign which, with such a prodigious 
expense of life, was likely to yield so little permanent advantage. The 
advance of the French and the retreat of the allies were, nevertheless, 
continued^for several days, and were marked by various alternations of 
success and disaster, which, on the whole, redounded to the benefit of the 
allies. At length, both parties began to wish for a suspension of hostili- 
ties : the allied sovereigns desired to gaiatime for bringing forward their 
reenforcements, which were already on the march in great strength : and 
Napoleon felt it necessary to ascertain the precise policy and intentions 
of Austria, before he trusted himself farther from his resources, and ex- 
posed the flank of a longer line of communication to the powerful armies 
of that Empire. 

With this common disposition to treat, the negotiations were not long 
protracted. A convention, termed the armistice of Pleswitz, was there- 
fore signed on the 4th of June, which declared a suspension of arms for 
six weeks, and designated, as the line of demarcation between the two 



346 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLI. 

armies, that Poischwitz, Leignitz, Goldberg and Lahn should be held by 
the French ; Landshut, Rudelstadt, Bolkershagen, Streigau and Canth, 
by the allies ; while the intermediate territory, including the fortress of 
Breslau, was to remain neutral, and be occupied by neither party. 



CHAPTER* XLI. 

FROM THE ARMISTICE OF PLESWITZ TO THE RENEWAL OF THE WAR. 

Great exertions were made by the British cabinet, to take advantage 
of the propitious events which marked the early part of the year 1813. 
It is difficult to say, whether the alacrity of the nation in submitting to 
fresh burdens, or the boundless generosity that ti-ansmitted supplies to 
Germany, or the efforts made to strengthen the victorious army of Wel- 
lington in Spain, or the diplomatic activity which hushed separate inte- 
rests and reconciled jarring pretensions, in concluding alliances with other 
cabinets — were most worthy of admiration. The position of Great Britain 
was indeed lofty and commanding, when she found the Continental states, 
after so long a struggle, ranging themselves around her standard, and 
saw the jealousies of rival governments merged in a common sense of 
necessity to crush the rapacious tyranny which she alone had uniformly 
and successfully opposed. Yet many serious obstacles were to be over- 
come, before this consummation could be fully realized ; and difficulties 
of no ordinary kind awaited the statesman whose perseverance at length 
subdued them, and cemented out of such discordant materials the glo- 
rious fabric of the Grand Alliance. 

The decided step taken by Prussia, in seceding from her friendly rela- 
tions with France, and uniting her fate to that of Russia, by the treaty 
of Kalisch, at once, and without any formal convention, reestablished an 
amicable understanding between the cabinets of London and Berlin ; and 
long before their diplomatic connexions were renewed, immense supplies 
of arms, ammunition and warlike stores had been forwarded from the 
Thames, and distributed through the Prussian dominions. To accelerate 
the conclusion of a regular treaty. Sir Charles Stewart, now the Marquis 
of Londonderry, was sent by the British government to the north of Ger- 
many as early as April, and he arrived at Berlin on the 2^d of that 
month. Learning that the King of Prussia was then at Dresden, he 
hastened to that capital, and on the 26th of April it was there agreed, that 
England, in addition to the military supplies already sent forward, should 
advance two millions sterling to sustain the operations of the Crown- 
Prince of Sweden in the northern part of Germany, and a like sum to 
enable Russia and Prussia to keep up their armaments in Saxony ; be- 
sides five hundred thousand pounds with which the British government 
charged itself as the cost of the Russian fleet. In return for these liberal 
advances, Russia agreed to maintain two hundred thousand, and Prussia 
one hundred thousand men in the field, exclusive of garrisons ; and mat- 
ters continued on this basis until the consummation of the armistice of 
Pleswitz. 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 347 

No sooner, then, were the allied sovereigns delivered, by the convention, 
from the pressure of impending hostilities, than they exerted themselves 
to effect closer diplomatic relations with Great Britain ; and, as both Sir 
Charles Stewart and Earl Cathcart, the English ambassador at the court 
of St. Petersburg, were at the allied head-quarters, a treaty of alliance, 
offensive and defensive, was promptly concluded. By this treaty, signed 
at Reichenbach on the 14th of June, England agreed to furnish Prussia 
with funds to the amount of six hundred and sixty-six thousand pounds, 
on condition that the latter power should keep eighty thousand men in 
the field for the remainder of the year; she also promised to contribute 
her influence toward the aggrandizement of Prussia, if the success of the 
allied arms would warrant it, in such geographical and statistical propor- 
tions as should at least restore that kingdom to the situation in which it 
stood prior to 1806 ; and on the other hand, the King of Prussia consented 
to cede to the Electorate of Hanover a part of his possessions in Lower 
Saxony and Westphalia, to the extent of three hundred thousand inhabit- 
ants, including in particular the bishopric of Hildesheim. By another 
and relative treaty, between Russia and Great Britain, it was stipulated 
that the latter power should pay to the former a subsidy of thirteen hun- 
dred and thirty-three thousand pounds ; and in return, the Emperor Alex- 
ander agreed to maintain in the field one hundred and sixty thousand 
men : and England formally ratified her previous agreement to maintain 
the Russian fleet and crews, lying in her harbors since the convention of 
Cintra in 1808, at an annual expense of five hundred thousand pounds. 
And as these large subsidies appeared to be inadequate to the daily 
increasing cost of the armaments which the allies had on footer in prepa- 
ration, and especially as the want of specie was everywhere severely 
felt, the treaty further stipulated, that an issue of paper, to the extent 
of five millions sterling, guarantied by the three powers, should be 
made by the Prussian states, of which two-thirds were to be at the dis- 
posal of Russia, and one-third at that of Prussia : the ultimate liquidation 
of the notes was fixed for the first of July, 1815, or six months after the 
conclusion of a general peace ; and their payment at that period was 
undertaken in the proportion of three-sixths by England, two-sixths by 
Russia, and one-sixth by Prussia. And although these treaties, by their 
letter, promised the supplies of money only during the year 1813, yet 
the high contracting parties agreed to concert anew on the aid they were 
to afford each other, in case the war should be prolonged beyond that 
period ; and in particular, they " reciprocally engaged not to negotiate 
separately with their common enemies, nor to sign any truce, peace or 
convention whatsoever, otherwise than by mutual consent." 

Notwithstanding the liberal provisions of these two treaties, as already 
recited, the scarcity of specie in Germany during the summer became so 
excessive, that England was again compelled to interpose; and, on the 
30th of September, entered into an agreement to issue bills from the 
British exchequer, in favor of the sovereigns of Russia and Prussia, to 
the amount of two and a half millions sterling, payable in specie one 
month after the ratification of a general peace, at offices in such towns 
in the north of Germany as the cabinets of London, St. Petersburg and 
Berlin should designate ; with an option to the holders to fund the amount 
of their notes in a stock bearing six per cent, interest. These issues 
were immediately made, and they at once supplied a circulating medium, 



348 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLI. 

which passed on a par with specie throughout all Northern Europe : a 
memorable instance of the effect of national credit in public transactions, 
and of the inexhaustible resources of a country which, after a war of 
twenty years, was able not only to supply subsidies of vast amount to 
the Continental states, but to guaranty the circulation of foreign dominions, 
and cause her own promissory notes to pass like gold and silver through 
empires extending from the Elbe to the wall of China, and among na- 
tions that, but a few months previously, were arrayed against her in 
•deadly hostility. 

While the allies were thus strengthening themselves for the contest, 
Napoleon concluded a treaty with Denmark, on the 10th of July, by 
which it was determined that France should declare war against Sweden, 
and Denmark against Russia, within twenty-four hours after the denun- 
ciation of the armistice ; and that both the contracting parties should concur 
with all their forces in the common object ; each power also guarantied 
the integrity of the other's dominions. This treaty secured to France a 
valuable support at the mouth of the Elbe, and the acquisition of twenty 
thousand effective troops — a fact of no inconsiderable importance, since 
the advanced position of Marshal Davoust, who occupied Hamburg when 
the allies, by their retreat, were forced to abandon it, would otherwise 
have required a covering force of similar amount to be withdrawn from 
the French army. 

Austria now held the balance between the hostile powers ; and her 
forces, hourly accumulating behind the mountains of Bohemia, threatened 
to pour down in irresistible strength on whichever of the two parties 
should venture -to dispute her will. As yet she had not proclaimed her 
definitive intentions, although she had clearly resolved upon them, and 
withheld their execution solely from prudential motives. Metternich, 
then and ever since the chief director of the Austrian councils, was too 
well aware of the insatiable ambition of Napoleon to place the slightest 
reliance on his present liberal promises of future forbearance ; at the 
same time, that able minister was anxious, if possible, to secure the ad- 
vantages of a successful campaign by an armed mediation rather than by 
an appeal to the arbitrament of war. 

During the first three weeks of the armistice, little progress was made 
in the work of negotiation. Difficulties arose at the outset, as to the 
parties by whom, and the forms by which, they should be conducted. 
The allied sovereigns did not wish their plenipotentiaries to treat directly 
with those of France, but desired that both parties should address them- 
selves to Austria as the mediating power; and this proposal was strongly 
supported by Metternich, on the part of the cabinet of Vienna. To solve 
the first difficulty, he came in person to Getschen, and entered into cor- 
respondence with Maret, the French ambassador. Maret insisted on a 
categorical answer to the question, whether France was still to regard 
Austria as an ally under the treaty of 1812. Metternich replied, that the 
duties of a mediator were not inconsistent with those of an ally ; and sug- 
gested that, in order to facilitate the negotiation, the treaty of 1812 should 
not be considered as broken, but only suspended — an expression which 
Napoleon justly considered as equivalent to a dissolution of his alliance 
with Austria. The other point of difficulty, the forms in which the nego- 
tiations should be conducted, was next considered : and here Metternich 
found such a diversity of opinion, that he repaired to Dresden in order to 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 349 

arrange the matter with Napoleon personally. His interview was pro- 
longed till past midnight on the 28th of June. 

" You are welcome, Metternich," said Napoleon, as soon as the minis- 
ter was introduced, " but why do you come so late ? We have lost nearly 
a month; and your mediation, from its long inactivity has become almost 
hostile. It appears that it is no longer agreeable to your cabinet to 
guaranty the integrity of the French Empire : well, be it so : but why 
had you not the candor to make me acquainted with that determination at 
an earlier period ? Your doing so might have modified my plans ; per- 
haps, prevented me from continuing the war. When you allowed me to 
exhaust myself by new efforts, you doubtless little calculated on such 
rapid events as have ensued. Nevertheless, I have gained two battles ; 
my enemies, severely weakened, were beginning to wake from their illu- 
sions, when suddenly you glided among us ; and, speaking to me of ar- 
mistice and mediation, you spoke to them of alliance and war. But for 
your pernicious intervention, peace would have been at this moment con- 
cluded between the allies and France. What have hitherto been the 
fruits of your intervention ? I know of none, except the treaties between 
Russia, Prussia and Great Britain. They speak of the accession of 
anotJier power to their conventions — but you have a minister there, and 
perhaps know better than I to whom that refers. You cannot deny, that 
since Austria has assumed the office of mediator, she has not only ceased 
to be my ally, but has become my enemy. You were in fact about to 
declare your hostility, when the battle of Lutzen intervened, and, by 
showing you the necessity of augmenting your forces, made you desirous 
to gain time. You have two hundred thousand men screened by the 
Bohemian mountains ; Schwartzenberg commands them ; he is at this 
moment concentrating them in my rear ; and it is because you conceive 
yourself in a condition to dictate the law, that you pay me this visit. I 
see through you, Metternich. Your cabinet wishes to profit by my em- 
barrassments, and to augment them as much as possible, that you may 
recover a portion of what you have lost. Your only doubt is, whether 
you can gain your object without fighting, or whether you must throw 
yourself boldly among the combatants. You do not well know which of 
these lines of policy to adopt, and possibly you have come here to seek 
light on the subject. Well, what do you want ? Let us treat." 

To this vehement attack, which embodied more truth than he was 
willing to acknowledge, Metternich replied with studied address, " The 
sole advantage which the Emperor my master proposes, or wishes to de- 
rive from the pi'esent state of affairs is, the influence which a spirit of 
moderation, and a respect for the rights and possessions of independent 
states, cannot fail to command from those who are animated with similar 
sentiments. Austria wishes to establish a state of things which, by a 
wise distribution of power, may place the guaranty of peace under the 
guardianship of an association of independent states." "Speak more 
clearly," interrupted the Empei'or; "come at once to the point; but do 
not forget that I am a soldier, who would rather break than bend. I have 
offered you Illyria to remain neutral : will that suffice ? My army is 
strong enough to bring Russia and Prussia to reason : all I ask from you 
is, to withdraw from the strife." "Ah, sire!" said Metternich, eagerly, 
" why should your majesty enter singly into the strife ? Why should 
you not double your forces ? You may do so, sire ! It depends on 



350 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLI. 

yourself to add our armies to your own. But matters have come to that 
point, that we can no longer remain neutral : we must be for you, or 
against you." 

At these words, the Emperor conducted Metternich into a cabinet apart, 
in which stood tables covered with maps, and for a time their conversa- 
tion could not be overheard. After a while, the voice of Napoleon was 
audible above its ordinary pitch: "What!" said he, " not only Illyria, 
but the half of Italy, and the return of the pope to Rome, and Poland, 
and the abandonment of Spain, Holland, Switzerland, and the Confede- 
ration of the Rhine ! And this you call a spirit of moderation ! You are 
intent only on profiting by every chance that offers : you alternately trans- 
port your alliance from one camp to the other, so as to be always a par- 
taker of the spoil, and yet you speak to me of your respect for the rights 
of independent states. You would have Italy ; Russia would have Po- 
land ; Sweden would have Norway ; Prussia would have Saxony ; and 
England, Holland and Belgium: in short, peace is only a pretext; you 
are all eager to dismember the French Empire, and Austria thinks she 
has only to declare herself, in order to crown the enterprise ! You pro- 
pose, here, with a stroke of the pen to sweep away the ramparts of 
Dantzic, Custrin, Glogau, Magdebourg, Wesel, Mayence, Antwerp, Alex- 
andria, Mantua — all the strong places of Europe, in short, of which I 
obtained possession by dint of victories ! And I, obedient to your policy, 
am to evacuate Europe, of which I still hold the half; recall my legions 
across the Rhine, the Alps and the Pyrenees ; subscribe a treaty which 
would be nothing but one vast capitulation ; and place myself at the 
mercy of those of whom I am at this moment the conqueror ! And, it is 
when my standards are floating at the mouths of the Vistula and on the 
banks of the Oder ; when my victorious army is at the gates of Berlin 
and Breslau ; when I am at the head of three hundred thousand men — 
that Austria, without striking a blow, without drawing a sword, expects 
me to subscribe such conditions ! My father-in-law, too, has matured 
such a project, and he sends you on such a mission ! In what a position 
would he place me, with regard to the French people ! Does he suppose 
that a dishonored and mutilated throne in France can be a refuge for his 
son-in-law and grand-son ? Ah ! Metternich, how much has England 
given you to make war upon me /" 

This violent tirade was delivered while Napoleon strode up and down 
the apartment ; and at the last insulting question, which nothing in the 
character or conduct of the Austrian diplomatist could for an instant jus- 
tify, the Emperor let his hat, that he had hitherto carried in his hand, fall 
to the floor. Metternich turned pale, but made no movement to raise it, 
as his politeness at any other time would have dictated ; and Napoleon, 
after passing and repassing it several times, at length kicked it aside. 

After a pause of a few minutes, during which not a word passed on 
either side. Napoleon became more tractable, and, reverting to fair words, 
contended for a congress, to continue its sittings even during hostilities, 
in case they should recommence. A convention, in consequence, was 
made, stipulating that the congress should meet at Prague on the 5th of 
July, at latest, and Austria agreed to procure the prolongation of the 
armistice to the 10th of August. The convention was based on the me- 
diation of the Emperor of Austria, and accepted by Napoleon " for a 
general or continental peace." By this means, Metternich gained a great 



1813.1 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 351 

advantage over the French Emperor ; inasmuch as he drove that mon- 
arch from his favorite project of treating for peace with the several 
powers separately, and caused him to accede to the mediation of Austria — 
in itself, under the circumstances, a great diplomatic victory. 

As yet, however, nothing definitive was declared as to the purposes of 
Austria ; and outwardly, it was still a matter of doubt to which side she 
would incline; but at this crisis, big with the fate of Europe and of the 
world, the star of England prevailed : intelligence was received of the 
battle of Vittoria in Spain ; and the victory there achieved by Welling- 
ton, which will be detailed in a subsequent chapter, explained Napoleon's 
final submission to Austria as a mediator, and caused that power to de- 
cide in favor of the Grand Alliance. 

From this moment, all prospect of peace was abandoned : the views of 
both parties were mainly directed to war ; and the negotiations at Prague 
Were used but as a cover to gain time on either side. Napoleon im- 
proved to the uttermost the interval thus gained, to strengthen his position 
and reenforce his army by hastening forward the conscripts from France ; 
and, resolving to make Dresden the centre and pivot of his operations, he 
proceeded to cover that town and its vicinity with fortifications on a 
gigantic scale, which might be capable, both by their strength and extent, 
of protecting his entire military establishment, in case of serious and un- 
expected disaster. The numbers of the French Emperor's troops were 
in proportion to the magnitude of his undertaking, and the emergency in 
which he was placed. His reenforcements had been hastened forward 
from France with all possible expedition, and these, in conjunction with 
his allies and his own previous musters, presented the following formida- 
ble array and disposition : Twenty-five thousand Bavarians, stationed at 
Munich, watched the movements of the Austrians, who were assembling 
in the neighborhood of Lintz ; Augereau, at Wurtzburg and Bamberg, 
held twenty thousand conscripts, as yet inexperienced in the field ; Da- 
voust occupied Hamburg, with twenty-five thousand French and fifteen 
tliousand Danes ; Oudinot, with eighty thousand, was posted in front of 
Torgau to observe Bernadotte, who covered Berlin ; and two hundred and 
thirty-five thousand, under the immediate command of the Emperor, were 
cantoned from Dresden to Liegnitz : in all, four hundred thousand men. 
In addition to these, one hundred and fifteen thousand men were in gar- 
rison at Dantzic and in the fortresses on the Elbe and the Oder. 

The forces of the allies were but little inferior in point of numbers to 
the immense army of Napoleon. Two hundred and twenty thousand 
combatants were assembled in Bohemia, and, from that salient bastion, 
threatened the rear and communications of the French Emperor on the 
Elbe ; eighty thousand menaced him from Silesia, and ninety thousand 
were pressing forward from the north toward a common centre : making 
a total of three hundred and ninety thousand men ; of whom one hundred 
and twenty thousand were Austrian troops in the finest state of discipline 
and equipment. 

While these immense hosts were taking the field and preparing to 
assume hostilities, the congress at Prague still maintained the form of ne- 
gotiation, and its members, though well aware that war was inevitable, 
continued to discuss technical points and recommend measures of a 
peaceful tendency. On the 7th of August, Metternich transmitted to 
Napoleon the ultimatum of the Austrian cabinet, which stipulated for the 



352 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLI. 

dissolution of the Grand-duchy of Warsaw, and the division of its terri- 
tories between Austria, Russia and Prussia, reserving Dantzic for the 
latter power : the reestablishment of Hamburg and the Hanse Towns in 
their independence ; the reconstruction of Prussia within its ancient do- 
minions, having a frontier on the Elbe ; the cession to Austria of the 
Illyrian provinces, including Trieste ; and the independence of Holland, 
Spain and the Pontifical States. Napoleon spent the 9th in delibera- 
tion ; and, on the 10th, he returned an answer acceding to many of the 
conditions, but insisting that Dantzic should be a free city, and that its 
fortifications should be demolished ; he refused the cession of Trieste to 
Austria ; and claimed that the Confederation of the Rhine should be ex- 
tended to the Oder and the integrity of the Danish dominions guarantied. 
These terms, however, were inadmissible ; and, besides, they did not 
reach Prague until the 11th, when the armistice had terminated and the 
congress was dissolved. On the 12th, Austria formally declared war 
against France. 

General Moreau, since his trial and condemnation by the First Consul 
in 1804, had lived in retirement in the United States of America, behold- 
ing the contest that still raged in Europe, as the shipwrecked mariner 
regards the waves of the ocean from which he has just escaped. But the 
Emperor of Russia, who entertained a high opinion of the Republican 
general, and deemed it not unlikely that he might be induced to contribute 
the aid of his great military talents in support of the cause of European 
freedom, had some time previously opened a correspondence with him at 
the city of New-York, the result of which was, that Moreau consented to 
cooperate with the allies on condition that France should be maintained 
in the limits she had acquired under the Republic ; that she should be 
allowed to choose her own government by the intervention of the Senate 
and political bodies ; and that, as soon as the Imperial tyranny was over- 
thrown, the interests of the country should become paramount to those of 
the Imperial family. As soon as these preliminaries were agreed on, 
Moreau embarked at New-York on board the American ship Hannibal, 
and after a voyage of thirty days arrived at Gottenburg, on the 27th of 
July, whence he immediately departed for Straslund to hold an interview 
with Bernadotte. His subsequent journey from Straslund to Prague was 
almost a triumphal procession. The innkeepers entertained him gratui- 
tously ; the postmasters supplied him with their best horses, and sent cou- 
riers to announce his approach ; and his route was thronged with crowds 
who were anxious to catch a glance of so renowned a warrior. He reached 
the allied head-quarters late at night on the 16th of August ; and the next 
morning, the Emperor Alexander visited him, lavished on him every pos- 
sible attention, and at once admitted him to the confidence of the allied 
sovereigns. Moreau immediately began to study the maps of the country, 
and drew up the plan of a campaign, which, in its leading features, was 
adopted by the allies. 

One difficulty remained to be adjusted at the allied head-quarters ; the 
appointment, namely, of a commander-in-chief over the armies : and the 
nature of this difficulty will be apparent, when it is considered that the 
Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, Moreau, Bernadotte, Schwart- 
zenburg, Blucher and others, were all eligible to the high office and anx- 
ious to obtain it. It was at length, however, conferred on Schwartzenburg, 
to whose orders the other chieftains cordially agreed to submit. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

DELIVERANCE OF GERMANY. 

The first movement in the memorable campaign now about to com- 
mence, was made by the allies ; Blucher having, on the 15th of August, 
advanced in great force upon the territories of Silesia, driven back the 
French videttes, and compelled the troops in that quarter to retire behind 
the river Bober. He was supported by a corps of Russians under Lan- 
geron, and another of Austrians under Sacken, and the vigor of their joint 
movement was such that the French rapidly lost ground in every direction. 
This result was of sinister augury, for the forces under the command, 
respectively, of Ney, Lauriston, Marmont and Macdonald, were estimated 
by Napoleon at no less than a hundred thousand men ; and these were all 
retiring without striking a blow to arrest the progress of their antagonists. 
The arrival of Napoleon, however, at the head of his main body of 
troops, soon changed the state of affairs ; and the allies, now wholly over- 
matched, began in turn to retreat, yet in perfect order, and without loss 
other than that incident to the fatigues of the march. Indeed, Blucher's 
a^lvance and subsequent retreat were parts of the preconcerted plan of the 
allies ; who, while Napoleon was thus drawn into Silesia, prepared to 
descend from Bohemia upon Dresden, and strike at once at the line of his 
communications and the centre of his power. In conformity to this pur- 
pose, they pressed forward to the Saxon capital, and began to arrive in its 
neighborhood on the 23rd of August. They came in such numbers, that 
on the morning of the 25th, a hundred and twenty thousand men with five 
hundred pieces of cannon, were assembled around the walls of Dresden. 
Moreau counselled an immediate attack before Napoleon could return to 
relieve the town, and Alexander warmly supported his views ; but Schwart- 
zenberg and the Austrians, insensible of the value of time in a contest 
with Napoleon, resolved to await the arrival of Klenau's corps, which was 
hourly expected. 

In the meantime, Napoleon received intelligence of the advance upon 
Dresden, and hastened to repair the error of his march against Blucher 
by a speedy return, leaving Macdonald in command of a force sufficient 
to check the Prussian general. He urged forward the movement of his 
troops with the greatest energy ; and, although the men were exhausted 
by the heat of the weather and the excessive toil of the march, they suc- 
ceeded in reaching Dresden on the 26th of August. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon of that day, Schwartzenberg, after vainly 
waiting for Klenau until he had lost a far greater advantage than any 
assistance that oflScer's corps could render, gave the signal for a general 
attack. Immediately the batteries on all the heights around Dresden 
were brought forward, and more than a hundred guns in the front line 
opened a terrible fire on the town. Bombs and cannon balls ranged over 
its whole extent ; many houses were set on fire ; the inhabitants took 
refuge in their cellars to avoid the bombardment ; and the frequent burst- 
ing of shells in the streets, the thunder of artillery from the ramparts, the 
heavy rolling of guns and ammunition- wagons along the pavement, to- 
M 



354 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLII. 

gether with the tumult produced by the soldiery as they forced their way 
through the crowded avenues, combined to create a scene of indescribable 
terror. Every street and square in Dresden was soon thronged with 
French troops, more than sixty thousand having defiled over the bridges 
since the morning, and the iron storm of the allied artillery fell with de- 
structive effect among their dense masses. 

The confusion and slaughter greatly increased when the allies advanced 
in deep columns to the assault. They carried the redoubts of the city at 
several points, and, unaware that Napoleon had returned to Dresden with 
a great part of his troops, they were already confident of an easy victory, 
when the Emperor ordered a sally to be made by the Young Guard, in 
two several directions. This unexpected movement, and the great force 
with which it was sustained, decided the day, and the allies rapidly fell 
back to their fortified position on the heights. 

The weather, which for nearly a week had been sultry and oppressive, 
changed during the night to a cold and violent storm of rain : yet both 
parties exerted themselves to prepare for a pitched battle on the follow- 
ing morning. By daylight on the 27th, Napoleon drew out his troops to 
the number of a hundred and thirty thousand .men. His right wing, con- 
sisting of the corps of Victor and the cavalry of Latour Maubourg, took 
post in front of the gate of Wildsrack, and in the fields and low grounds 
extending toward Priesnitz : the centre, under his personal command, 
comprising the corps of Marmont and St. Cyr, and having in reserve the 
infantry and cavalry of the Old Guard, rested on three great redoubts in 
advance of the town ; and the left, under Ney, with four divisions of the 
Young Guard and the cavalry of Kellermann, was spread along to the 
Elbe, beyond the suburb of Pirna. On the other hand, Wittgenstein, with 
his Russians, held the extreme right of the allies toward Pirna ; Kleist, 
with the Prussians, lay between Streisec and Strehlen ; Schwartzenberg, 
with the corps of Colloredo and Chastellar, and Bianchi's grenadiers in 
reserve, occupied the semicircle of heights in the centre, extending from 
Strehlen by Raecknitz to Plauen ; and beyond Plauen, on the left, were 
posted the corps of Giulay and one division of Klenau's troops, which had 
at length come up. But from the extreme lef\ of the allies to Priesnitz, 
there was a vacant space destined for the remainder of Klenau's corps, 
wholly unoccupied when the battle began, and which of itself was suffi- 
cient to insure the defeat of the allies, by leaving one wing unsupported, 
and inviting, as it were, a charge of the French cavalry, which must ne- 
cessarily be successful, on its flank and the flank of the centre : a more 
vicious and fatal disposition, on the part of a commander choosing his own 
ground of defence, can scarcely be imagined. 

Napoleon was not long in turning to the best account this defect in the 
allied line, and the thick mist of the morning favored his manoeuvre so 
greatly, that his cuirassiers gained a position within a few yards of the 
allies before they were aware that any danger threatened them. At the 
same moment, Victor approached the allied left in front, and these two 
attacks occurring simultaneously, the whole wing was in a few minutes 
broken and destroyed ; more than three-fourths of the whole having been 
killed or made prisonei's. Notwithstanding this disaster, the allied right 
still stood firm against Ney, while the combat in the centre was confined 
to a distant cannonade : after a time, however, the first line of the right, 
under General de Roth, began to give ground; when a catastrophe took 



1813.J HISTORYOFEUROPE. 855 

place in the centre that induced the allies to retreat. A cannon ball 
from one of the French batteries, more than a mile distant, struck Gen- 
eral Moreau and nearly severed both legs from his body, passing through 
his horse in its flight. He was immediately borne to a cottage in the 
rear, when he suffered the painful process of amputation with so much 
coolness, that he called for a cigar and smoked it during the time he was 
under the surgeons' hands. The wound, nevertheless, proved mortal ; and 
at the end of five days he expired with perfect stoicism. 

As soon as Moreau was struck down, Schwartzenberg conferred with 
the allied sovereigns and generals on the expediency of a retreat ; to 
which he was specially moved by learning the fact, that Vandamme with 
thirty-five thousand men had taken a strong position in the rear, and 
threatened the communication of the allies ; thus rendering their position 
extremely hazardous, in case of a more serious overthrow than they had 
yet sustained. These considerations prevailed and Schwartzenberg 
ordered the retreat. The army moved in three columns. The first un- 
der Barclay, with the Prussians of Kleist, on Peterswalde ; the second, 
under CoUoredo, on Altenberg ; and the third, under Klenau, on Marien- 
berg. Wittgenstein took command of the rear-guard ; and Ostermann, 
who with a division of Russian guards and cuirassiers had been sent to 
oppose Vandamme, was ordered to fall back toward Peterswalde. 

The loss of the allies in the battle of Dresden, was not less than 
twenty-five thousand men, killed, wounded and prisoners, besides twenty- 
six pieces of cannon and eighteen standards ; while the French loss was 
scarcely half as great: nor did the disasters of the allies terminate here. 
Owing to a misapprehension of orders as to the several lines of retreat, 
the Russians and Austrians became crowded together on the same road, 
and in the confusion arising from this circumstance a number of baggage 
and ammunition-wagons, together with two thousand prisoners, fell into the 
hands of the French. 

Meanwhile, Vandamme, following his instructions to throw himself on 
the rear of the allies and await the issue of events before Dresden, en- 
deavored to make himself master of Toeplitz; a point of intersection in 
the route of the allies that commanded the entrance into the Bohemian 
plains. Ostermann made equally strenuous efforts to secure the im- 
portant pass, and the two corps came in contact with each other near 
Culm, and about half a league in advance of Toeplitz. A desperate 
action ensued, in which Ostermann, though inferior in numbers to the 
French general, bravely maintained his ground until nightfall, when both 
parties withdrew to renew the battle on the following day. During the 
night, Ostermann was largely reenforced by the approaching Russian 
columns, and Vandamme's prudent course, in the morning, was to retreat. 
But having no orders for such a movement, and presuming that Napoleon 
would advance to his aid, he rashly resolved to maintain his position. 
Barclay, who had arrived with the reenforcements, took command of the 
allied forces the next day ; and after having made able dispositions for the 
action, commenced it by a spirited charge of cavalry on Vandamme's 
left wing. The French fought for a time with their accustomed bravery ; 
but they were overpowered by numbers, and at length fled from the field 
in total disorganization, leaving behind them sixty pieces of cannon, two 
eagles, and three hundred ammunition-wagons: their loss in killed, 
wounded and prisoners during the two days, amounted to eighteen thou- 
M2 



356 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLII. 

sand men ; while that of Ostermann and Barclay did not exceed five 
thousand. 

While such was the course of events in the neighborhood of Dresden 
and of the Bohemian frontier, serious disasters attended the French arms 
in Upper Silesia, where Macdonald was opposed to Blucher. The former, 
impressed with the belief that Blucher had continued his retreat after 
Napoleon withdrew from the pursuit to succor Dresden, divided his army 
of seventy-five thousand men into five columns, in order to obtain sup- 
plies with greater facility, and spread his forces over a front of twenty- 
four miles in extent. In this straggling manner, he approached the river 
Katzbach, at Leignitz, on the 26th of August. As it happened, however, 
the Prussian commander, far from retreating, when he heard of Napo- 
leon's march upon Dresden, prepared to assume the offensive ; and the two 
generals moving from opposite directions toward a common centre, came 
in sight of each other near Leignitz, at four o'clock in the afternoon 
of the 26th. Macdonald was surprised at reaching the allies so much 
sooner than he expected ; but he still conceived the parties in view to be 
outposts of their rear-guard ; and this illusion was confirmed by the dispo- 
sitions of Blucher, who concealed the greater part of his left wing be- 
hind some intervening hills, on the plateau of Eichholz, and awaited the 
movement of his opponents, while he ordered his centre and right to has- 
ten with similar precaution toward the more remote divisions of the 
French army. 

Macdonald pushed forward his columns without much care or support, 
and when a portion of his right wing had crossed the ravine of Neisse, 
Blucher gave the signal to attack. The surprise was complete ; and the 
French right, broken and disordered, fled back upon the main body with 
great loss. The simultaneous movement of the allies on Macdonald's 
centre and left were equally successful ; and, when night separated the 
combatants, the French, with numbers seriously diminished, had been 
forced to give ground along their whole line. 

The next day, Blucher put his columns in motion to follow up his suc- 
cess, while Macdonald drew back his shattered corps toward Goldberg. 
The elements, however, seemed to have combined with the allies for his 
destruction. The rain which fell in torrents during the night, had nearly 
destroyed the roads, and caused a flood that not only rendered the streams 
in his rear impassable, but carried away almost all the bridges. Under . 
these disadvantages, the French could not escape an overwhelming de- 
feat. In fact, the battle of the Katzbach — so designated from the name 
of the principal river near which it took place — was a counterpart of 
Hohenlinden, with a reverse of the contending nations. The French 
loss during the two days, in addition to a hundred and three pieces of 
cannon and two hundred and thirty ammunition-wagons, was no less than 
eighteen thousand prisoners, and seven thousand killed and wounded : a 
total of twenty-five thousand men ; while the loss of the allies did not 
exceed four thousand. 

Disasters of inferior magnitude, though scarcely less important in 
their consequences, attended the French arms north of the Elbe, in the 
direction of Berlin. Bernadotte commanded the allies in this quarter; 
and his army, ninety thousand strong, occupied Juterbock, Trebbin, and 
the villages of Saarmunde and Bilitz. On the 21st of August, Oudinot, 
with about eighty thousand men, broke up from his position, abandoned 



1813.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 857 

the great route from Torgau to Berlin, and made a flank movement 
toward the Wittenberg road. This soon brought him in contact with 
Bernadotte's outposts, which he drove in, and established himself on the 
heights behind Trebbin. On the following day, both parties made prepa- 
rations for a general action near Gross Beeren ; and in the morning of the 
23rd, the battle began by an attack with the French right under Ber- 
trand. The contest was maintained throughout the day, but it was rather 
a battle of mancBuvres than of hard fighting; and when the French re- 
treated, at nightfall, they had sustained a loss of but thirteen cannon, a 
quantity of baggage, and something less than five thousand men, of whom 
fifteen hundred were prisoners: an almost insignificant result, consider- 
ing the numbers engaged. A great moral effect was, however, produced 
by the battle of Gross Beeren, as it formed one of a succession of defeats 
sustained by the French arms ; and, having been won by inexperienced 
troops against veteran soldiers, greatly raised the spirits and courage of 
the Prussians, who, at the commencement of the action, thought of Jena 
and trembled for their capital. On the 25th, Luckau, with a garrison 
of a thousand French troops, fell into the hands of the allies; and Gerard, 
who had issued from Magdebourg with five thousand men, was driven 
back, with a loss of two-thirds of his numbers and twelve pieces of can- 
non. Thus, the general result of the strife in this quarter was, a dimi- 
nution in the French ranks of nearly eight thousand men, while the allies 
lost something less than four thousand. 

Napoleon was at Dresden when news of the defeat of Vandamme, 
Macdonald, and Oudinot reached him with stunning rapidity, and for a 
time he was in doubt which of the three to sustain by his personal eflforts; 
he at length decided in favor of Macdonald, and directed his steps toward 
Bautzen and the banks of the Bober ; at the same time, being dissatisfied 
with Oudinot, he gave the command of that marshal's army to Ney. 
After the change in his combinations had been completed, sixty thousand 
men remained under St. Cyr, Victor and Murat — which last named per- 
sonage had eventually resolved to unite his fortunes with Napoleon, and 
joined the army on the 17th of August — to make head against the allied 
army on the left of the Elbe ; seventy thousand, under Ney, were arrayed 
against Bernadotte ; and a hundred and twenty thousand, under the Em- 
peror in person, were opposed to Blucher in Silesia.; while Marmont, 
with a corps of observation eighteen thousand strong, kept up the com- 
munications on the right bank of the Elbe. 

On the 4th of September, Napoleon's advanced guard encountered the 
van of Blucher's army, strongly posted on the high grounds of Stromberg. 
The Prussian marshal soon perceived, from the increased activity in the 
French ranks, that the Emperor was before him ; and faithful to the 
plan of the campaign and to the instructions he had received, he imme- 
diately withdrew his troops. The French continued to advance as he 
retired ; but they could not overtake him in force, and at noon on the 6th, 
Napoleon, exhausted with fatigue, entered a deserted farm-house by the 
road-side, threw himself on some straw, atid mused long and profoundly 
on the probable issue of a contest in which the allies would not give him 
an opportunity of striking a blow in person, while the armies of his mar- 
shals, when left to themselves, suffered but a series of disasters. At the 
close of his revery, he started up, and ordered the Guard and cuirassiers 
to return to Dresden, whither he also repaired, and where his presence 
was much needed. 
M3 



358 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLII. 

Ney had, in the meantime, taken the command of Oudinot's army, and 
on the evening of the 5th of September established himself between the 
villages of Zahna and Seyda. When Bernadotte ascertained that his old 
comrade, Marshal Ney, was marching against him, he concentrated his 
forces, and moved across the country to regain the great road between 
Torgau and Berlin. Tauenzein, with the advanced guard, reached Den- 
newitz on the morning of the 6th, where he came suddenly in sight of 
the French army, and his detachment, with the left wing of the allies that 
supported him, were soon involved with superior numbers, and threatened 
with a total defeat. Bulow, however, hastened on with the Prussian 
centre, and, after four hours of obstinate fighting, succeeded in carrying 
the village of Gohlsdorf and forcing back the French centre and right 
toward Ohna. At this juncture, Ney advanced with twenty thousand 
fresh troops, compelled Bulow in turn to retreat, retook Gohlsdorf, and 
drove the Prussians across the high grounds to their original position. 
Here Bulow rallied his men, united them to his reserve, turned upon his 
pursuers, and, defeating them with great loss, a second time took posses- 
sion of Gohlsdorf. Oudinot now came to the support of Ney's retreating 
columns and both parties making a firm stand, for a while maintained 
the contest without any visible advantage to either side. Presently, the 
Prussian brigade of Borstel appeared on the field, and by a spirited charge 
on Oudinot's flank, again forced the French to give ground. Ney, 
finding his whole army endangered by this movement, immediately or- 
dered a general retreat ; which, however, was commenced with great 
steadiness, and with no other loss than that which followed the rapid dis- 
charges of the Prussian artillery. 

Hitherto, the battle had been sustained by the Prussians alone, whose 
entire force did not exceed forty-five thousand men, while Ney's army 
was seventy thousand strong. The Swedes and Russians, composing 
nearly half the allied force, had not yet been brought into action ; but 
Bernadotte, with his powerful reserve, now came to follow up the victory 
which the Prussians with such heroic valor had won. From this moment, 
Ney's retreat became a flight ; all order was gone, and he did not succeed 
in reuniting his shattered columns until he reached Torgau, on the 8th 
of September. His loss amounted to six thousand stand of arms, forty- 
three pieces of cannon, seventeen caissons, and three standards, together 
with thirteen thousand men, of whom one half were prisoners. The loss 
of the allies was but six thousand, of whom nearly five thousand were 
Prussians ; a decisive proof that they bore the brunt of the battle, and 
earned the glory of the victory. 

As soon as Schwartzenberg learned that Napoleon had departed from 
Dresden to aid Macdonald, he marched to threaten, a second time, the 
Saxon capital ; and he arrived in its vicinity, in great force, on the 8th 
of September. Meantime, however, as has been already related, Napo- 
leon had precipitately quitted Macdonald with the Guards and cuirassiers, 
on the 6th ; reached Dresden on the night of the 8th ; and when, on the 
morning of the 9th, Wittgenstein and Klenau opened their batteries on 
Dresden, they were equally surprised and disturbed at seeing the Empe- 
ror issue from the gates with the finest troops of the French army, to 
drive them from their position. As they were wholly unprepared to 
resist such an attack, they immediately withdrew ; Wittgenstein taking 
the road to Nollendorf, and Klenau that to Marienberg. Napoleon, 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 359 

satisfied with this advantage, retired to Dahme, where he received intel- 
ligence of Ney's defeat at Dennewitz. 

Several days of comparative inaction now ensued, although combats 
between detached parties were constantly taking place. Napoleon 
seemed to be at a loss in what quarter to direct his forces; while the 
allies rejoiced in an interval that brought daily accessions to their ranks, 
and lessened the time that must necessarily elapse before Benningsen 
could arrive, who, with sixty thousand fresh Russian troops, was expected 
to join the army in the latter part of September. 

At length, on the 21st, Napoleon made a second movement across the 
Elbe, to check the progress of Blucher, who was again driving Macdonald 
before him, and had already occupied Bautzen, and extended himself 
along the line of the Spree. The Emperor reached the advanced posts of 
the allies on the evening of the 22nd, and a skirmish took place, but with- 
out any result. He slept that night at a miserable hamlet near Hartau, 
with a few of his Guard around him, the greater part of those troops hav- 
ing fallen behind from the exhaustion of incessant marches and counter- 
marches, which led to nothing. 

The utmost melancholy prevailed at his head-quarters. The campaign 
seemed endless. The soldiers, worn out by fatigue and privation, had 
lost much of their former spirit ; sickness and the sword had, in an ex- 
traordinary degree, thinned their ranks ; and the generals could not shut 
their eyes to the fact that the French army, daily inclosed within a more 
contracted circle, and fast diminishing in numbers, was no longer able to 
resume the offensive at any point with a prospect of success. On the 
23rd, Blucher's army was drawn up in order of battle, yet Napoleon 
seemed to be a prey to indecision, and did not venture an attack ; but, 
after keeping his men under arms nearly the whole day, he galloped, at 
ten in the evening, toward Neustadt, where a body of Austrians and Rus- 
sians was engaged in a skirmish with Lauriston. The next day he re- 
turned to Dresden ; and seeing the necessity of contracting his circle of 
operations, he ordered Macdonald to withdraw to Weissig, within two 
leagues of the Saxon capital ; thereby, in effect, abandoning the whole 
right bank of the Elbe to the allies. 

Soon after these events, Chernicheff, one of the Cossack commanders, 
made a descent into the heart of Westphalia, with a host of his fiery cav- 
alry. He crossed the Elbe at Dessau, and, pushing across the inter- 
vening country, reached Cassel, the capital of the kingdom, on the 30th 
of September. The king, Jerome Bonaparte, with the few troops which 
the Emperor had allowed him to retain, precipitately retreated without 
firing a shot ; and Chernicheff made his entry into the town, and, amid the 
vociferous applause of the people, proclaimed the dissolution of the king- 
dom. An insurrection against the French authorities immediately fol- 
lowed : students came forward by hundreds to be enrolled in battalions 
of volunteers ; crowds assembled in the streets demanding arms ; and the 
contagion of revolt spread rapidly to all the villages in the neighborhood. 
Chernicheff, however, being destitute of both infantry and artillery, could 
not maintain himself in the position he had gained, and on the approach of 
a body of French troops, he evacuated the city as promptly as he entered 
it : but he did not lose a single man, either in his advance or retreat ; and 
he bore off the stores of the arsenal, the royal horses and carriages, and 
an immense booty in precious metals and jewels. The moral effect of 



S60 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLII. 

this movement far exceeded the spoils of the victory : the brother of Na- 
poleon had been driven from his capital, and his dethronement proclaimed, 
by a foreign partisan leading a horde of wild horsemen ; and a dangerous 
proof was thus given to the world, of the facility with which these oppres- 
sive military thrones, destitute of support from the interests and affections 
of the people, might be swept from the earth the moment that the military 
power which upheld them was overturned. The consequences of this 
achievement, were accordingly soon apparent in the north of Germany : 
a Saxon battalion withdrew from the camp of Marshal Ney, and joined 
itself to that of Bernadotte ; and the remainder of the Saxon army forbore 
to follow the example, solely because of their personal regard for their 
sovereign, who made an energetic appeal to their honor. In addition to 
this, several Westphalian battalions, after the reoccupation of Cassel, took 
an early opportunity of passing over from their fugitive monarch to the 
ranks of German freedom. 

The arrival of Benningsen at Tceplitz, on the 1st of October, raised the 
allied army in Bohemia to a hundred and twenty thousand men, and the 
several commanders of this great force resolved to assume the offensive. 
Orders were at the same time sent to Blucher and Bernadotte, to unite 
their armies under the command of the former, and hold themselves in 
readiness to check any advance of the enemy toward Berlin, as well as 
to cooperate in a general attack on the French forces in the plains of 
Saxony. 

Napoleon, with whom an advance upon Berlin had been a favorite 
project during the whole campaign, resolved, by a rapid march in that 
direction, to prevent the union of Blucher and Bernadotte, and at the 
same time destroy one or both of their armies, and strike a decisive blow 
at the Prussian capital. He, therefore, left Dresden to the care of St. 
Cyr, with about thirty thousand men, and himself departed, on the 7th of 
October, at the head of the remainder of his troops, which, when joined 
with those of Ney and Macdonald, amounted to a hundred and twenty- 
five thousand men. To cover his communications, and keep in check the 
allied army of Bohemia, he detached Murat with fifty thousand men, 
composed of the corps of Victor, Lauriston and Poniatowski, to Freyberg ; 
instructing him to retard the advance of the enemy as long as possible, 
and, when he should become unable to keep his ground, to retire toward 
Leipsic and the Upper Mulda. The French Emperor was, nevertheless, 
too tardy in his movements to prevent the junction of Blucher and Ber- 
nadotte, though he reached Duben on the evening of the day that Blucher 
evacuated it, namely, the 10th of October. 

While Napoleon was making this serious demonstration in Prussia, the 
allied army of Bohemia issued from its defiles, and compelled Murat to 
fall back toward Leipsic, where the French troops in that vicinity were 
already assembling ; and, on the 14th of October, the advanced posts of 
the allies came in sight of the steeples of that city. These movements, to- 
gether Avith the abandonment of the Confederation of the Rhine by the 
King of Bavaria, who, on the 8th of October, went over with his forces to 
the Grand Alliance, forced Napoleon to order an immediate retreat upon 
Leipsic. 

The city of Leipsic, which is not a place of great extent, is surrounded 
by an irregular rampart, forming nearly a square : this rampart consists 
of an old curtain of masonry, covered by a ditch almost filled up, without 



1813.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 361 

a counterscarp, beyond which broad boulevards, planted with trees, afford 
a spacious and shady walk for the citizens. The suburbs, stretching be- 
yond this verdant belt, were at that period much more considerable than at 
the present day, and were then, as now, shut in toward the south and east 
by walls containing gates strengthened with palisades ; but toward the 
north, on the side of the Partha, they were entirely open. To the west, 
the city is bounded by the Elster and the Pleisse, which streams, flowing 
in a lazy current to the northwest, inclose between them swampy mead- 
ows, nearly two miles in breadth and impassable for carriages ; and al- 
though the rivers are not wide, they are deep and muddy, and cannot be 
forded either by infantry or cavalry. The swampy meadows constitute 
a broad marsh, crossed by a single road running to Lutzen and May- 
ence, which leads to the barrier of Machranstadt, and enters the city by 
the gate of Halle, over a stone bridge at the same place : there were no 
other bridges across the Elster but two built of wood, and intended merely 
for the accommodation of foot passengers. The country to the east is a 
beautiful plain, well adapted to military evolutions. The hills of Wa- 
chau stretch along southeast of the town, and were now occupied by Mu- 
rat ; while to the northeast, in the direction of Mockern, the windings of 
the Partha, the villages and gentle swells adjoining its banks, present a 
variety of obstacles to retard the advance of an approaching army. 

On the night of the 15th of October, the disposition of the troops around 
Leipsic was as follows : the main army, under Napoleon, lay to the 
south and east of the city, at various points in communication with each 
other, to the number of a hundred and ten thousand men, commanded in 
detail by Bertrand, Poniatowski, Augereau, Victor, Lauriston, Oudinot, 
Macdonald, Murat, Latour Maubourg, and Sebastian!. To the north- 
west of Leipsic, and so far removed from it as to form a separate army, 
were forty-eight thousand men, posted between Mockern and Enteritch, 
under the command of Ney, who expected soon to be joined by the re- 
mainder of the troops on their march from Duben, thirty thousand strong : 
making a grand total of a hundred and eighty-eight thousand men, with 
seven hundred and twenty pieces of cannon. The troops under Schwart- 
zenberg, who were intended to act against the army directly commanded 
by Napoleon, consisted of a hundred and forty-three thousand men, which 
number would the next day be increased to a hundred and eighty-one 
thousand by the arrival of Benningsen's and Colloredo's reserve, having 
in all seven hundred and fifty pieces of cannon. Among the leaders of 
this army besides Schwartzenberg, the commander-in-chief, were the 
Emperor Alexander, the King of Prussia, the Grand Duke Constantine, 
Wittgenstein, Milaradowitch, Litchenstein, Thielman, Platoff, and a host 
of others whose names are identified with the wars of this eventful period. 
On the opposite side of Leipsic, and directly opposed to Ney, Blucher 
was posted with fifty-six thousand men, and on the day following he was 
to be joined by Bernadotte with forty-seven thousand, which would raise 
the allied force in that quarter to a hundred and three thousand combat- 
ants, with five hundred and sixty guns: thus making a grand total, on 
the part of the allies, of two hundred and eighty-four thousand men, and 
more than thirteen hundred pieces of cannon. 

At midnight on the 1.5th, two rockets were sent up to a great height 
from Schwartzenberg's head-quarters, on the south of Leipsic ; and these 
were immediately answered, by two of a blue and one of a red light from 



362 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLIL 

Blucher's camp on the north. These signals told the assembled myriads 
that everything was in readiness, and that the hour had come for the 
final struggle. All was tranquil in the French lines: their watch-fires 
burned with a steady light, and no moving figures around the flames in- 
dicated an intention to retreat : a movement which indeed was impossible 
without a conflict. 

Precisely at nine o'clock on the morning of the 16th, three guns were 
discharged from the centre of Schwartzenberg's army, and immediately 
the fii'e began along the whole line. The French guns replied with 
great spirit, the earth literally trembled under the sustained discharge of 
more than a thousand pieces of artillery, the allied columns in imposing 
array moved forward to the attack, and for three hours a desperate 
struggle took place at every point, attended by an alternation of success, 
but accompanied by no preponderating advantage to either party. At 
noon, Napoleon, who had taken post with his Guards and cuirassiers on 
the heights behind Wachau, imagined that the allies were sufficiently 
exhausted, and resolved to put in force his favorite manoeuvre of a grand 
attack on the enemy's centre. This movement, sustained by strong di- 
visions of the Old and Young Guard, together with the flower of the 
French cavalry, was measurably successful ; the attacking columns 
gradually but steadily gained ground, and Napoleon, deeming the battle 
won, sent word to the King of Saxony in Leipsic that he had secured the 
victory, and desired the bells to be rung to announce it. The intelli- 
gence, however, was premature : for Schwartzenberg, seeing the danger 
of his centre, ordered up a large body of Austrian reserve infantry and 
cuirassiers, who, after a bloody encounter, restored the battle and drove 
the antagonist columns in disorder to the heights whence they had issued. 
The French Emperor, though greatly disconcerted at this reverse, deter- 
mined to make one more effort to retrieve the day ; for he knew that 
Benningsen and Colloredo would soon join Schwartzenberg's army, and, 
by their preponderating numbers, render desperate his own hopes of suc- 
cess. He therefore re-formed his broken cuirassiers, united them to his 
entire reserve of Imperial Guards, and precipitated them in one tremen- 
dous column upon the victorious allies. The effort, nevertheless, was 
vain. Schwartzenberg's troops yielded, indeed, to the first impression, 
but they rallied with unconquerable heroism, and withstood every attempt 
of Napoleon to break their array, until the approach of night brought the 
battle to a close. 

A conflict of equal obstinacy had, in the meantime, taken place between 
Ney and Blucher on the north of Leipsic, where for the day — as Berna- 
dotte had not yet come up — the forces of the two armies were more 
equally matched. The result of the battle was, however, an entire de- 
feat of Ney, who was driven behind the Partha with a loss of six thousand 
men and twenty-two pieces of cannon. 

While Napoleon was that night partaking of a frugal supper at his 
head-quarters, he ordered Meerfeldt, who had been made prisoner during 
the battle, to be brought into his presence. This was the officer who had 
come a suppliant on the part of the Emperor of Germany to solicit the 
armistice of Leoben ; who had conducted, in behalf of the cabinet of 
Vienna, the negotiations that resulted in the treaty of Campo Formio ; 
and who, on the night following the battle of Austerlitz, bore the proposals 
for a conference which led to the peace of Presburg. The mutations of 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 363 

fortune had now brought the same general to the tent of Napoleon, when 
the latter, in turn, had become the suppliant, and was about to solicit, not 
concede, a suspension of hostilities. The Emperor addressed to Meer- 
feldt some obliging expressions on the misfortune he had sustained in 
being made prisoner, and dismissed him to the Austrian head-quarters 
with proposals for an armistice ; agreeing on his own part to evacuate 
Germany and retire behind the Rhine, until the conclusion of a general 
peace. " Adieu, general," said he, as he dismissed Meerfeldt ; " when, 
on my behalf, you speak to the two Emperors of an armistice, the voice 
which reaches their ears will, 1 doubt not, be eloquent in recollections of 
the past!' 

But the allied sovereigns were too well aware of their present superi- 
ority, either to fall into the snare laid by Napoleon in his proposals for an 
armistice, or to sacrifice their advantage, by renewing the battle until 
their entire reenforcements should reach the field. Under pretence, 
therefore, of referring the proposals to the Emperor of Austria, Schwartz- 
enberg obtained the delay requisite to concentrate his forces. 

At two o'clock in the morning of the 18th, the French Emperor, finding 
that no answer to his propositions had been returned, made arrangements 
for the battle that could not now be avoided ; and as the losses already 
sustained had seriously reduced the numbers of his troops, he was forced 
to contract the circuit of his defence and abandon some of the surrounding 
heights to the allies. At nine o'clock, Schwartzenberg, now reenforced 
by the entire reserve for which he had waited, commenced a general at- 
tack, and at first drove everything before him. He carried several of 
the villages intervening between his position and Leipsic, and both his 
left and centre were unchecked in their career until Napoleon in person 
brought forward his Imperial Guard, and compelled them to yield a por- 
tion of the ground they had gained. The success of the right wing was 
less decided, although there, too, the allies were clearly victorious ; but 
in the afternoon, Schwartzenberg, seeing that eventual success was secure, 
and preferring to achieve it by less vehement assaults, in order to save 
the needless destruction of his brave troops, withdrew his infantry and 
cavalry, and brought forward eight hundred pieces of cannon. These 
were immediately disposed on a semicircle of heights of two leagues in 
extent ; and, playing with a concentric fire on the dense masses of the 
French below, caused a terrific slaughter, which the weaker party were 
forced to endure without any adequate means of reply. The corps of 
Lauriston and Victor, galled beyond endurance by this frightful storm 
of balls, repeatedly rushed forward to carry the allied batteries; but 
whenever their columns came within grape-shot range, the guns were 
immediately charged with that destructive missile, which with tenfold 
effect swept down to a man the head of every formation as it approached. 
This awful scene continued for four hours, during which time the French 
veterans stood firm beneath the iron tempest, nor were they relieved 
until night put an end to the combat. 

Ney, in the meantime, had sustained a terrible assault north of the 
city, where Blucher, havmg been joined by Bernadotte, pressed the 
French marshal with numbers, almost in the fearful proportion of 
two men for one. Not long after the action began, an incident of 
ominous import took place : a brigade of Wirtemberg and another of 
Saxon cavalry, together with two brigades of Saxon infantry, abandoned 



364 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLII. 

the French standards, and passed over to the allies, with twenty-two 
pieces of cannon ; and, such was the exasperation of the Saxon gunners, 
they halted before reaching the allied lines, and discharged their artillery 
at point blank range, and with fatal effect, into the ranks of their former 
comrades. The number of men lost to the French by this desertion was 
not less than eight thousand : yet, despite this reduction of force, Ney 
still maintained a heroic defence throughout the day, although his losses 
both in men and position, were very severe. 

Night came at last to suspend the work of carnage ; but, after such a 
conflict, it was even more terrible than the day, for it brought together 
the remembrance of the past and the anticipation of the future. The 
incessant roll of musketry and the roar of two thousand pieces of cannon, 
were succeeded by an awful silence, interrupted only by a casual shot 
from the sentries as they paced their rounds, and the hollow murmur 
which escaped from the cries of the horses and the groans of the wounded 
men. Soon, the heavens in the whole circumference of the horizon were 
illuminated by the ruddy glow of innumerable watch-fires. 

Napoleon's marshals, silent and sad, were assembled around him in his 
tent, when the commanders of artillery reported on the state of the army. 
More than two hundred thousand cannon-shot had been discharged during 
the battle, and it was impossible to renew the fight, under any prospect 
of success, without an accession of forty thousand fresh troops and an 
ample supply of ammunition. But neither the one nor the other could 
be obtained. During this eventful conference. Napoleon, overcome with 
fatigue, fell asleep in his chair ; his hands were negligently folded on his 
breast, and the generals, respecting the respite of misfortune, preserved 
a profound silence. At the end of a quarter of an hour he awoke, and, 
starting up suddenly, exclaimed, " Am I awake, or is it a dream ?" Soon, 
however, recollecting what had happened, he sent a message to the King 
of Saxony, announcing his intention to retreat ; and leaving it optional 
with that monarch to follow the fortunes of the French, or remain where 
he was, and conclude a separate peace with the allies. 

By daybreak on the 19th, the French army was in full retreat. Victor 
and Augereau, with the cavalry, defiled across the suburb of Lindenau, 
and issued upon the causeway that traverses the marshes of the Elster : 
but this was the sole avenue of escape. One single bridge was to receive 
the entire army, with all its encumbrances of wounded, artillery and 
carriages ; for the frail wooden conveyances had at once given way under 
the multitude by which they were beset. The loss of the French in the 
two days exceeded forty thousand men ; yet sixty tliousand remained m 
Leipsic, and an equal number was now pressing forward on the road to 
France. 

As soon as the retreat of the French became known in the allied 
camp, an assault on Leipsic was commenced ; but the soldiers within the 
walls defended it with unexpected obstinacy. Nevertheless, the over- 
whelming numbers of the allies, and their wild enthusiasm at the magni- 
tude of the victory, rendered all resistance unavailing. The conquerors 
poured like a furious torrent into the town, causing the very steeples to 
tremble with their shouts; while, with an impetuosity that defied all ob- 
stacles, they swept on to the western barriers. 

At this dreadful moment, the bridge was blown into the air, by the cor- 
poral who had charge of the mine under it ; and who, misconceiving Lis 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 365 

orders, fired it before the appointed time. A shriek of horror, more ap- 
palling than the loudest battle-cry, burst from the dense multitude that 
crowded to the edge of the chasm when the arch was found to be de- 
stroyed : the ranks immediately broke, the boldest men threw themselves 
into the river, and but few of these escaped. Macdonald swam his horse 
across, and reached the opposite bank in safety ; but Poniatowski's steed, 
having undertaken the same exploit, reeled back on his rider, and the 
brave Pole perished in the water. During the assault and retreat, Lau- 
riston, Regnier, and tM^enty other generals, with fifteen thousand soldiers, 
wei'e made prisoners, and twenty -three thousand sick and wounded also 
fell into the hands of the allies. The total loss of the French in the 
three days — two of battle and one of retreat — was no less than sixty 
thousand" men, while that of the allies was fully forty thousand : a prodi- 
gious sacrifice, but one which was atoned for by the deliverance of Europe 
from French bondage, and of the world from revolutionary aggression. 

The French army continued its retreat for several days with great 
rapidity ; and although its flanks and rear were incessantly harassed by 
the allied light ti'oops and Cossacks, who cut off an immense number of 
stragglers, and captured a large number of cannon, no serious obstacle 
interrupted its pi-ogress. On the 23rd of October, the Emperor reached 
Erfurth with his forces in a state of almost total disorganization ; but as 
the fortified citadels in this vicinity inspired the men with a feeling of 
security, and especially as the magazines of Erfurth supplied their ne- 
cessities and relieved the pangs of hunger, which had nearly consumed 
them on their march, a degree of order was at once restored ; and, after 
a halt of two days, the troops were in a condition to perform a regular 
retreat. Murat quitted Napoleon at this place, and bent his course to 
his own dominions. The pretext he assigned for his departure was, the 
fear of disturbances at Naples ; but in fact, he had entered into a secret 
correspondence with Metternich, and, to secure his crown in the general 
wreck, did not hesitate to abandon his brother-in-law and benefactor. 
Napoleon was not deceived as to Murat's motives, but he nevertheless 
ejnbraced his old companion in arms, and parted from him with a presen- 
timent, which the event justified, that he should never meet him again 
in this world. 

On the 25th, Napoleon resumed his march for the Rhine, at the head 
of but ninety thousand men ; and he left behind him, to depend on their 
own resources, nearly a hundred and eighty thousand, who were blockaded 
in the fortresses of the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula. These garri- 
sons were composed partly of effective troops, originally posted in the 
several strongholds for their defence ; but the greater proportion consisted 
of the worn-out veterans of Moscow, and the stragglers of the present 
campaign, who added nothing to the strength of the regular garrisons, 
but served only to consume their previously straitened supplies, and to 
introduce disorganization and disease into their ranks. 

While Napoleon, by the rapidity of his movements, was escaping the pur- 
suit of all large bodies of the allies, a new enemy unexpectedly arose on 
the line of his retreat. It has already been mentioned that the King of 
Bavaria seceded from Napoleon's cause, and joined himself to the Grand 
Alliance on the 8th of October. This step was followed by another of simi- 
lar moment ; the concentration, namely, of the Bavarian forces under 
Wrede, and their threatening movements on Napoleon's rear. Wrede's 



366 HISTORYOFEUROPE, [Chap. XLH. 

entire corps amounted to fifty-eight thousand combatants, and he crossed 
the Danube at Donauwerth as early as the 19th, whence he pushed on 
to Aschaffenburg on the 27th ; he there detached ten thousand men to 
Frankfort, and on the 29th established himself with the remainder of his 
troops in the forest of Hanau, stationing his men across the great road, 
and blocking up the retreat of the French toward Mayence. 

The forces of Napoleon, when he quitted Erfurth, were, in point of 
numbers, greatly superior to the Bavarian army ; but the men soon fell 
into confusion again, and at least ten thousand of them had already strag- 
gled from their ranks and fallen into the hands of the Cossacks. The 
Emperor, therefore, might have eighty thousand men under his command, 
but not more than fifty thousand could be depended on as effective troops; 
so that the two armies were not very unequally matched in actual strength ; 
yet it was to be considered, that this remnant of the French host consisted 
of the very choicest of Napoleon's veterans, and they, as well as the strag- 
glers that accompanied them, if opposed in their last avenue of retreat, 
would necessarily fight with the courage and energy of despair. The 
result of the battle, which took place on the 30th, may be anticipated. 
Wrede maintained his position with great bravery against the earlier at- 
tacks of the French troops ; but his men eventually gave way at all points, 
and fell back behind the Kinzig. The next day, Napoleon ordered an 
assault on the town of Hanau, which place was carried in a few hours, 
and evacuated by the Austrian garrison ; but when a portion of the French 
army had passed on toward Frankfort, Wrede rallied his broken divisions, 
recaptured Hanau, and drove Napoleon's rear-guard in confusion from its 
walls. 

The loss of the Bavarians, in the two days, amounted to ten thousand 
men, of whom four thousand were prisoners. Napoleon lost seven thou- 
sand ; and of these three thousand were wounded, whom he was com- 
pelled to abandon in the forest, for want of carriages to bear them away. 
The French Emperor left Frankfort on the first of November, and his 
eagles bade a final adieu to the German plains — a theatre of his 
glory, his crimes, and his punishment. 

While Napoleon was i-etiring across the Rhine, the allies closely fol- 
lowed his footsteps, and the forces of Central and Eastern Europe, poured 
in prodigious strength down the valley of the Maine. On the 4th of No- 
vember, the advanced guard under Schwartzenberg entered Frankfort ; 
and, on the same day, the allied sovereigns established their head-quarters 
at Aschaffenberg. On the 5th, the Emperor Alexander made his entry 
into Frankfort at the head of twenty thousand superb cavalry ; and he 
rested there until preparations could be made for crossing the Rhine, and 
carrying the war into the heart of France. At the same time, the allied 
forces on all sides rapidly approached that frontier stream. Schwartzen- 
berg forced the passage of the Nidde, and advanced his head-quarters 
to Hochst, within two leagues of Mayence ; while Blucher, on his right, 
established himself at Giessen. On the 9th, Giulay received orders to 
attack Hochheim, a small town fortified with five redoubts, and garrisoned 
by twelve thousand men. The formidable columns of the allies, however, 
easily carried the place. This combat was the last of the campaign, so far 
as the grand armies on either side were concerned ; and the respective 
commanders put their forces into winter-quarters. Those of Napoleon, 
entirely on the left bank of the Rhine, extended from Cologne on the north 



1813.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 367 

to Strasburg on the south ; the greater part being stationed at Mayenee, 
Coblentz, and opposite to the centre of the allies around Frankfort. The 
grand allied army extended along the right bank of the Rhine from Kehl 
to Coblentz. 

Bernadotte, whose line of advance was more to the north, in the direc- 
tion of Hanover, detached Woronzow with his advanced guard to Cassel, 
on the 28th of October. Jerome had previously abandoned his capital ; 
the greater part of his army joined the allies, and the few who adhered 
to his cause followed him to Dusseldorf, and there crossed the Rhine. 
Winzingerode, now coming up with a corps of Russians, organized the 
whole kingdom of Westphalia in the interest of the allies ; he also de- 
stroyed the revolutionary dynasty in the Grand-duchy of Berg, and united 
the forces of that province to the standards of Germany. He next oc- 
cupied the Grand-duchy of Oldenberg and East Friedland, and Bulow 
marched to Munster on his way to Holland, where the people waited only 
for the approach of the allies, to throw off the French yoke and declare 
their independence. Bernadotte, on the 6th of November, formed a junc- 
tion with Benningsen, fixed his head-quarters at Hanover, and reestab- 
lished there the authority of the King of England. 

As soon as the battle of Leipsic was decided, Klenau received orders 
to unite his corps with that of Tolstoy ; and their joint forces, amounting 
to fifty thousand men, commenced the blockade of Dresden, on the 27th 
of October. St. Cyr, who had been left by Napoleon to defend this city, 
could scarcely muster more than thirty thousand men ; and, as his stock 
<y( provisions was barely sufficient for ten days' supply, he resolved on 
the desperate expedient of a sortie, in order to cut his way to Torgau or 
Wittenberg. He made this bold attempt on' the morning of November 
6th, at the head of fifteen thousand of his best troops, but he was speedily 
driven back into the town by a detachment of three thousand allies ; and, 
seeing then that no hope of relief remained, he entered into a capitula- 
tion, in virtue of which he surrendered Dresden, and his troops laid down 
their arms on condition of being sent to France, engaging at the same time 
not to serve again until regularly exchanged. On the 12th, the French sol- 
diers began to defile out of the town in six columns, and proceeded on the 
road to France : the entire force consisted of thirty-two generals, seventeen 
hundred and ninety-five officers, and thirty-three thousand privates. But 
Schwartzenberg and the allied sovereigns disapproved the terms of the 
capitulation ; they notified St. Cyr that they should not ratify it, and 
gave him the option of being reinstated in Dresden, or conducted with 
all his followers as prisoners of war into Bohemia. He of course ac- 
cepted the latter proposition, as he was wholly unable to maintain himself 
in Dresden ; but he protested loudly and with good reason against this 
violation of the compact, which however unwise and absurd on the part 
of Klenau — for the garrison was in so helpless a condition that St. Cyr 
could have hoped for nothing better than an unconditional surrender — 
was, nevertheless, regularly made and completed by a general having 
full power in the premises : and the fact that Klenau was so greatly out- 
witted by the French marshal, furnished the allied sovereigns with no 
apology for annulling his authorized acts. 

The fall of Dresden was soon followed by the surrender of Stettin, 
Torgau and Dantzic ; and these combined conquests placed in the hands 
of the allies upward of a thousand pieces of cannon, and nearly seventy 



368 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XLH. 

thousand prisoners ; which latter amount was augmented to eighty thou- 
sand by the subsequent capitulation of several minor fortresses. At the 
close of the campaign, there remained to Napoleon of all his possessions 
beyond the Rhine, only Hamburg, Magdebourg, and Wittenberg on the 
Elbe ; Custrin and Glogau on the Oder ; and the citadels of Erfurth and 
Wurtzburg. 

The fermentation produced in Europe by the deliverance of Germany, 
soon spread to the Dutch Provinces. The yoke of Napoleon — univer- 
sally grievous from the enormous pecuniary exactions and the wasting 
military conscriptions that accompanied it — had been peculiarly oppres- 
sive in Holland, where the habits of the people were so wholly commer- 
cial. The Hollanders had for nearly twenty years tasted the dregs 
of humiliation in the cup of the vanquished, being compelled themselves 
to uphold the system which exterminated their resources, and to purchase 
the ruin of their country with the blood of their children. A state of 
feeling had therefore long existed among them that must inevitably have 
led to a revolt, but for the hopelessness of the attempt : when, however, 
the battle of Leipsic had given a death-blow to the tyrant in his external 
relations, nothing could resist the universal effort for freedom in this 
devoted land. At this period. Napoleon's forces in Holland did not ex- 
ceed six thousand French soldiers and two regiments of Germans, which 
latter troops were not greatly to be relied on. When the allies under 
Bulow, together with a detachment of Russians led by Winzingerode, 
approached Amsterdam, the garrison of that town withdrew to Utrecht, 
where all the French forces were soon after concentrated. This with- 
drawal was the signal for a general revolt. The inhabitants of Amster- 
dam rose in insurrection, deposed the imperial authorities, hoisted the 
Orange flag, and organized a provisional government with a view to the 
reestablishment of the old order of things. Similar changes took place 
at Rotterdam, Dortrecht, Delft, Leyden, Haarlem, and the other princi- 
pal towns ; the Orange cockade was everywhere mounted, amid cries of 
" Orange Boven !" and, after submitting for so many years to foreign 
domination, a whole people regained their independence without shedding 
a drop of blood in its achievement. The French troops, finding them- 
selves threatened on all sides, withdrew entirely from the territories of 
Holland. 

Simultaneously with these events, an almost total overthrow of the 
French domination in Italy, took place. Eugene, after gaining some par- 
tial success in that country, was eventually forced back to the line of 
the Adige ; and before the middle of December, Trieste and the greater 
part of Dalmatia surrendered to the Austrian troops. 



, CHAPTER XLIII. 

THE LIBERATION OF SPAIN. 

The winter that followed the campaign of the Salamanca, though not 
distinguished by any warlike achievements, was a season of extraordinary 
effort and activity on the part of Wellington. The condition and disci- 
pline of the troops had been greatly improved ; the Duoro was rendered 
navigable above its confluence with the Agueda; a pontoon train was 
formed ; carts adapted to the mountain warfare were constructed ; and a 
great number of mules were provided to supply the place of those de- 
stroyed in the retreat from Burgos. Large reenforcements, especially in 
cavalry, came out from England during the winter ; and, when spring 
arrived, the army was prepared to take the field in greater strength, than 
at any previous period since the commencement of the Peninsular War. 

It now became a matter of the utmost consequence, that some decisive 
measures should be undertaken for the more effectual organization of the 
Spanish army ; and at length, symptoms of a favorable change, in that 
particular, appeared. Thejame of Wellington and the services he had 
rendered to the cause of Peninsular independence, finally conquered the 
sullen obstinacy of Castilian pride, as well as the secret hostility of dem- 
ocratic jealousy; and the British general was, by a decree of the Cortes, 
invested with the supreme command of the Spanish forces. The troops 
of that monarchy were at the time in so inefficient a state, that Mr. 
Henry Wellesley, the British ambassador at Cadiz, advised his brother 
not to accept the office, as in his judgment, such acceptance would excite 
jealousy and create responsibleness, without increasing strength or con- 
ferring power. But the patriotic spirit of Wellington, and his clear 
perception of the truth that the French could never be driven across the 
Pyrenees, unless by combining the whole power of the Peninsula under 
one leader, overcame his repugnance at undertaking so onerous and irk- 
some a charge ; and he entered upon the duties of his command, with a 
vigor that at least convinced the Spanish authorities of his energy and 
zeal in their behalf. He remonstrated in emphatic terms against their 
mode of discipline ; and as it was evident that a strong hand would be 
requisite to remedy the long-established evils of their system, he insisted 
that officers should be appointed solely on his individual recommendation, 
that he alone should possess the absolute power of dismissal, and that the 
resources of the state, so far as they were applicable to the pay and sup- 
port of the troops, should be applied in conformity to his directions. As 
the Cortes hesitated to grant these demands, Wellington repaired in per- 
son to Cadiz ; and, after remaining there through the month of January, 
1813, succeeded in gaining for his plans the entire acquiescence of that 
body. He also, to a certain extent, remodelled and organized the Span- 
ish troops. 

One result of consequence attended Wellington's visit to Cadiz — it 
brought under his immediate notice the miserable state of the government 
at that place, ruled as it was by a violent faction, and the prey, alter- 
nately, of aristocratic intrigue and democratic fury. He reported the 



370 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLIIL 

actual position of affairs to the British cabinet, and its members had the 
wisdom to follow his advice, namely : on no account to interfere with 
the internal disputes of the Cortes and the regency ; but, leaving the 
authorities and people at Cadiz to arrange their domestic quarrels and 
manage their institutions in their own way, direct every effort to the 
prosecution of the war and the expulsion of the enemy from the Penin- 
sula. On this latter principle, Wellington strongly urged the Cortes to 
suspend their meditated decree for suppressing the Inquisition ; arguing, 
that however wise and just its eventual abolition might be, it was to the 
last degree inexpedient to propose it at that particular time, when half the 
Spanish territory was in the hands of the enemy ; as any measure affect- 
ing that branch of the Church would certainly alienate the clergy, who 
had hitherto been the chief, and latterly the sole, supporters of the war. 
This advice, however, was too rational to satisfy men inflamed with polit- 
ical passion, and the people received it in sullen silence. As soon as 
Wellington departed, the dissensions between the two parties in Cadiz 
broke out with more rancor than ever; and these infatuated men, instead 
of giving their attention to the enemy at their gates, occupied themselves 
with projects for civil reform. The Inquisition was abolished by a formal 
decree, on the 7th of March ; and, as the clergy of Cadiz resisted the 
order, and the regency supported them in such resistance, the Cortes in- 
stantly removed the members of the regency, and appointed the Arch- 
bishop of Toledo, Pedro Agar and Gabriel (Jesiar, in their places. The 
refractory clergy throughout Spain were then arrested, and thrown into 
prison; and the revolutionary press, true to its principles, poured forth a 
torrent of abuse against the British government. 

While these disgraceful dissensions were daily weakening the eflfi- 
ciency of the civil authorities, Wellington exerted himself to the utmost 
in preparations for opening the campaign ; which, indeed, he was now 
able to do on a footing of comparative equality with the enemy. The 
Anglo-Portuguese army, mustering seventy-five thousand combatants, of 
whom forty-four thousand were British troops, lay along the Portuguese 
frontier near the sources of the Coa. The Anglo-Sicilian army, under 
Sir John Murray, was in the neighborhood of Alicante, and mustered 
sixteen thousand men, of whom eleven thousand were English, and the 
remainder foreign troops from the Mediterranean, in British pay. Co- 
pon's Spaniards, seven thousand strong, occupied the mountain country 
and upper ends of the valleys in Catalonia. Elio's corps of twenty 
thousand men were in Murcia, in the rear of Sir John Murray : but this 
force was yet undisciplined, and could not be trusted in presence of an 
enemy. The army of the Duke del Parque, consisting of twelve thou- 
sand soldiers, was posted in the defiles of the Sierra Morena. The first 
army of reserve, under the Conde d'Abisal, lay in Andalusia, and num- 
bered, nominally, fifteen thousand men ; the greater part were, however, 
raw recruits unfit for active service. The only Spanish force on which 
reliance could be placed, was the army of Castanos in Estremadura and 
on the frontiers of Leon and Galicia: it included all the troops able to 
take the field in the west and northwest of Spain, and mustered forty 
thousand combatants. Thus, the total force under Wellington's direc- 
tion, was one hundred and eighty-five thousand men. The French troops 
in the Peninsula were more numerous, and, as a whole, in a far more ef- 
ficient condition : their entire number was not less than two hundred and 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 371 

thirty-one thousand. Of these, one hundred and five thousand occupied 
a central field, and were ready for action ; sixty-eight thousand, under 
Suchet, held Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia ; ten thousand were at 
Madrid ; eight thousand in Old Castile and Leon ; and forty thousand 
were employed in maintaining the communications in the northern prov- 
inces, and waging a partisan warfare with the insurgent Spaniards in 
Biscay and Navarre. 

The campaign commenced on the 11th of April, by an attack of Suchet 
on the united forces of Sir John Murray and Elio, thirty-six thousand 
strong, who had concentrated themselves at Castella. Suchet began the 
action by a spirited charge against the advanced guard of the allies, and 
at first made such progress, that Murray, in great alarm, ordered a re- 
treat ; fortunately for the honor of the British arms, this order did not 
reach the columns engaged until they had rallied, regained their ground, 
and were pressing the French to a rapid flight. But here, again, Mur- 
ray displayed his military qualities, by commanding the pursuit to be 
discontinued, just as the French troops were falling into confusion under 
a charge of the British dragoons. Suchet, therefore, escaped with all his 
guns and baggage, leaving however, nearly two thousand men, slain and 
wounded, on the field. 

On the 12th of May, the army of reserve in Andalusia broke up from 
Seville, with directions to reach the bridge of Almarez and thence threaten 
Madrid on the 24th ; the Duke del Parque, a few days afterward entered 
La Mancha; on the 22nd, Wellington began his March into Spain; estab- 
lished his head-quarters at Ciudad Ro^rigo on the 23rd ; and preparations 
were so made that, when the advancing columns reached the frontiers of 
Biscay or Galicia, they should abandon all communication with Lisbon, 
and draw their supplies from the nearer harbors of those provinces. 
Seventy thousand British and Portuguese, and twenty thousand Spaniards, 
were ere long so disposed, that they could fall on the front and flank of 
the French lines ; and Wellington anticipated success with such con- 
fidence that, in crossing the frontier stream, he rose in his stirrups and 
waved his hand, exclaiming, " Farewell, Portugal !" 

The best effect attended the movements of the Duke del Parque's army, 
and those of the reserve from Andalusia ; for they spread alarm in New 
Castile, before the route of Wellington's main body became known ; and, 
by inducing the belief that a combined attack on the capital was in- 
tended, prevented that concentration of force on the Upper Ebro, by which 
alone the march of the British general could have been arrested. Accord, 
ingly, when the centre and right of the allied army were advancing from 
Ciudad Rodrigo to the Duoro, and Graham, with the left wing was toiling 
through the Tras-os-Montes, not more than thirty-five thousand French 
troops had assembled at Valladolid. This force was therefore compelled 
to retreat, and, by the 3rd of June, the entire allied army was in communi- 
cation on the northern bank of the Duoro, between Toro and the river Esla. 
On the 4th, Wellington took possession of Valladolid, and on the 7th and 8th, 
he reached the Carrion, which he crossed at various points. The French 
troops hastened to gain the Ebro, abandoned the castle of Burgos on the 
14th, after having blown up its ramparts in such haste, that the falling 
ruins crushed three hundred of their own men, and thence continued their 
route toward Vittoria. King Joseph, who led the retreat in person, 
pressed on with all possible expedition, followed by his court, the civil 



372 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLIII. 

authorities, and many citizens of Madrid, together with the troops that had 
occupied the vicinity of the capital. The flight was encumbered with 
an endless file of chariots, carriages and wagons, which conveyed a help- 
less multitude and their rich stores of spoil toward the frontier ; and 
when Joseph reached Vittoria, on the 19th, he made a stand, rather with 
a vague hope of securing the safe transit of his ill-gotten booty into 
France, than with any well-founded expectation of being able to resist 
the shock of Wellington's army. 

The basin of Vittoria, where the French troops, augmented by rein- 
forcements to seventy thousand men, were now drawn up in order of 
battle, is about eight miles in length by six in breadth, situated in an 
elevated plateau among the mountains. It is bounded on the north and 
east by the commencement of the Pyreneean range, and on the west by a 
chain of rugged mountains which separates the province of Alara from 
Biscay. This basin is intersected by two rows of hills, that cross it 
nearly from east to west, and furnish strong military positions ; several 
roads lead to and from Vittoria ; but although they are practicable for 
guns, the highway to Bayonne, through Gamarra Mayor, was alone ade- 
quate to receive the immense train of carriages attached to the French 
retreat. Two large convoys had already departed by this route, and 
were well on their way to France ; but many more, including the royal 
treasure and the guns and ammunition of the army, remained behind ; 
and it was therefore of vital consequence to the French to keep open the 
road to Bayonne, and above all, not to suffer Gamarra Mayor to fall into 
the hands of the enemy. » 

On the afternoon of the 20th, Wellington carefully surveyed the 
French position, which was now maintained by seventy thousand men 
and a hundred and fifty pieces of cannon ; while the allied force con- 
sisted of sixty thousand British and Portuguese, and eighteen thousand 
Spanish troops, with only ninety guns. His dispositions were soon made, 
and by daybreak on the 21st his whole army was in motion. The centre 
and right speedily surmounted the high ground which screened their 
bivouac from the sight of the French, and their masses stood in imposing 
strength on the summit of the ridges that inclose Vittoria on the south. 

At'ten o'clock. Hill, leading the right wing, reached the pass of Puebla, 
and began extending his men upon the plain in front, while Murillo's 
Spaniards, with surprising vigor, swarmed up the rocky ascent on the 
right of his advance. Here, however, the French made a stout resist- 
ance. Murillo received a wound, but still kept the field ; and, as the 
enemy's line had been strengthened by reenforcements. Hill was com- 
pelled to send to the Spanish general's support the seventy-first regiment 
and a battalion of light infantry, under Colonel Cadogan. That brave 
officer had scarcely reached the summit when he was struck down ; but, 
though mortally wounded, he still cheered on his Highlanders, and 
watched them with his dying eyes as they moved irresistibly along the 
ridge. The French were gradually borne backward ; and Hill, en- 
couraged by the progress of the scarlet uniforms on the heights, emerged 
from the defile of Puebla, carried by storm the village of Subijana, and 
brought his line into communication with Murillo. 

Meantime, Wellington with the centre, had surmounted the heights in 
his front, and descended into the plain of Vittoria. He met with no 
serious opposition until his men reached the bridges in the valley below, 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 373 

where the French were posted in great strength, and where, for several 
hours, they maintained an obstinate defence. While this contest was in 
progress, a decisive blow had been struck by Graham on the left. That 
noble officer, who, at the age of sixty-eight possessed the vigor of five- 
and-twenty, marched before daylight from his bivouac in the mountains, 
and by eleven o'clock, reached the heights above Gamarra Mayor and 
Ariega, which were strongly occupied by the French under Reille. The 
French, fully aware of the necessity of holding their position, for a time 
resisted the utmost efforts of Graham to dislodge them, but they at length 
gave way ; the British troops made themselves masters of their line of 
retreat, and the whole French army dispersed in utter confusion over the 
plains and mountains on every side. 

Never before, in modern times, had such an accumulation of military 
stores, combined with so great an amount of private wealth, fallen into 
the hands of a victorious army. Jourdan's marshal's baton, Joseph's 
private carriage, a hundred and fifty-one brass guns, four hundred and 
fifteen caissons, thirteen hundred thousand ball-cartridges, fourteen thou- 
sand rounds of artillery-ammunition, and forty thousand pounds of gun- 
powder, together with an immediate loss to the enemy of seven thousand 
men, constituted the military trophies of the battle of Vittoria — in addition 
to the fact, that the organization and efficiency of the French army en- 
gaged in the action were annihilated, and its entire force swept, as by a 
whirlwind, from the Spanish dominions. The private wealth captured 
by the allied army is beyond estimation. It was not the produce of a 
sacked town, or the riches of a pillaged province, but the plunder of a 
whole kingdom, accumulated during five years of unrestrained rapine. 
The military chest alone contained five and a half millions of dollars. 

Nothing now remained to complete the expulsion of the French from 
the northwestern provinces of Spain, but to drive them from the fortified 
strongholds of Santona, Pampeluna, and St. Sebastian. Hill had already 
invested Pampeluna, and Graham laid siege to St. Sebastian on the 29th 
of June. The garrison of this latter fortress, however, offered an unex- 
pected resistance; and, after expending nearly a month around its walls, 
Graham was forced to convert the siege into a blockade, and unite the 
greater part of his troops with the main body under Wellington, who at 
this time was preparing to resist a new invasion led on by Soult. 

This marshal, whom Napoleon had ordered to Spain when the news 
of the battle of Vittoria reached Dresden, arrived at Bayonne on the 1 3th 
of July, and immediately commenced repairing the fortifications of that 
place. He also devoted his attention to recruiting and reorganizing the 
army ; and this was carried on with such vigor and success, that he soon 
had at his disposal a hundred and fourteen thousand men, of whom 
seventy-six thousand were ready for operations in the field ; the remainder 
formed the garrisons of Bayonne, Pampeluna, Santona, and St. Sebastian. 
The forces in Catalonia under Suchet, at the same period, amounted to 
sixty-six thousand men. As soon as Soult had completed his arrange- 
ments, he marched in several columns toward the Spanish territories. 
Each of the contending armies occupied, or moved upon, a line about 
eleven leagues in length, extending from the sea on one side, to the 
mountains westward of the pass of Roncesvalles on the other. But there 
was this difference between the two positions, that, although the British 
were on the higher ground, and occupied passes difficult of access, yet 



374 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLIII. 

their columns, being separated by impassable ridges, could receive sup- 
port from each other only by circuitous and slow marches in the rear ; 
while the French, grouped in the plain, could readily throw a preponde- 
rating force against a weak part of the allied line, and overpower it before 
the arrival of reenforcements. 

Accordingly, on the 2.5th of July, Soult, at the head of thirty-five thou- 
sand men, ascended the French side of the pass of Roncesvalles ; while 
D'Erlon, with twenty thousand, threatened the allied centre by the Puerta 
de Maya ; and Villatte, with eighteen thousand, remained in observation 
6n the Bidassoa. Soult's object in these movements was, to accumulate 
forces on Wellington's right more rapidly than the British general could 
assemble troops to oppose him ; to relieve Pampeluna, for which purpose 
he had under convoy a large supply of provisions ; and then, turning to his 
own right, to descend upon St. Sebastian and the forces covering its 
blockade. So effectually had Soult disguised his intentions from the 
allies, that they were unprepared both for his and D'Erlon's attack ; and, 
after a desperate resistance, they were forced to retreat at Roncesvalles 
and Puerta de Maya, yielding the two passes to the French troops. D'Er- 
lon, satisfied with his success, remained inactive ; but Soult pressed for- 
ward on the 26th, toward Pampeluna. On the 27th, he approached 
Sauroren, about four miles in front of Pampeluna, where Picton and 
Hill had formed a junction, and made a stand to oppose him ; but he de- 
layed his attack until the next day, and thus gave Wellington time to 
come up with large reenforcements. The numbers of the contending 
armies were nearly equal, the French amounting to thirty-two thousand, 
and the allies to twenty-eight thousand, of whom, however, ten thousand 
were Spaniards. The allies were posted in two lines on two successive 
ranges of heights, and had the advantage of a strong position. 

At mid-day on the 28th, the French tirailleurs began with great gal- 
lantry to ascend the slopes toward the centre of the first line of the allies, 
while Clausel's division moved impetuously toward its left. Clausel's 
attack was quickly and totally repulsed ; but the assault along the centre 
and right was more successful, and for a time the French soldiers estab- 
lished themselves on the ridge. Wellington, however, brought up his 
reserves in person, and after a desperate and bloody contest, Soult drew 
off" his army to a range of hills opposite the allies' position. During the 
night, he made preparations for a retreat in the direction of St. Sebastian ; 
but before he could commence that movement, Wellington assumed the 
offensive, and on the 29th, by a combined attack on different points, en- 
tirely defeated him and drove him from his ground. The French loss in 
this day's action, was two thousand killed and wounded, and three thou- 
sand prisoners, besides a large number of stragglers who abandoned their 
ranks ; the total loss of the allies was two thousand killed and wounded. 

After this second disaster, Soult retired with all possible expedition up 
the valleys of the Lauz and the Guy ; but he was now in a hazardous 
predicament. His troops were exhausted, his numbers greatly reduced, 
and it seemed impossible to protect his artillery and baggage in a back- 
ward march over the Pyrenees. Graham, with twenty thousand men 
threatened him on the side of St. Sebastian; the victorious allies under 
Wellington, were in his rear; and i1 became evident, that some extraor- 
dinary effort could alone save him from destruction. This result was 
accomplished by a retreat of almost unexampled rapidity, through the 



1813.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 375 

passes leading to the Lower Bidassoa ; and although his troops suffered 
an immense loss in their flight through narrow defiles, crowded with their 
own fugitives and enfiladed by the destructive fire of their pursuers, he 
reached the French territories on the first of August, with a considerable 
numerical force in the last degree of disorder. 

As soon as Wellington had gained this victory, he prepared to recom- 
mence the siege of St. Sebastian. The governor of the place had, in 
the meantime, greatly strengthened his defences and repaired the injuries 
sustained during the previous siege ; but on the other hand, the besieging 
force was also much increased, both in men and in battering cannon. 
The heavy guns were brought into position by the 2.5th of August, and, 
on the 26th, their work of destruction commenced. On the 30th, two 
breaches were declared practicable. The assault began at twelve o'clock 
on the 31st, and the terrible slaughter endured for a time by the besiegers, 
disheartened the bravest of the veteran host. Nevertheless, they pressed 
on, and, by dint of numbers and perseverance, at length carried the town. 
A scene of violence now ensued, which the British historian may well 
blush to record. The allies, exasperated at the long continuance of the 
assault, and the fearful slaughter of their comrades at the breaches, were 
wrought to a pitch of frenzy that placed them beyond the control of their 
officers : discipline, order, the common dictates of humanity, were disre- 
garded : conflagration, rape, pillage — all the atrocities of which an intoxi- 
cated and infuriated soldiery are capable, consummated the storming of 
St. Sebastian ; and the next morning, a large portion of that once happy 
and prosperous town was a mass of smouldering ashes. 

While the siege of St. Sebastian was in progress, Soult made great 
efforts to relieve its garrison. He crossed the Bidassoa on the 30th of 
August, with thirty-eight thousand men, of whom eighteen thousand were 
under his own command, and twenty thousand under Clausel's ; while 
Foy, with seven thousand, followed as a reserve. Wellington detached 
a considerable force to resist this advance, but he resolved to put the 
Spanish troops in a position to receive the first shock of the encounter ; 
and, for this purpose, he posted eighteen thousand of them on the heights 
of San Marcial, while twelve thousand British and Portuguese were mus- 
tered in the rear to support them, in case the Spaniards should require 
assistance. Soult made his attack on the 31st, when the Castilian troops, 
evincing at last some of their ancient prowess, bravely resisted iiis charge, 
and drove him, with great loss, over the Bidassoa. In this untoward 
affair, the French killed and wounded amounted to three thousand six 
hundred men, including five generals ; and the loss of the allies was 
twenty-six hundred. 

The British government now became desirous that the allied army 
should cross the frontier, and commence offensive operations in France ; 
but Wellington, for several reasons, opposed this movement. Pampeluna, 
though closely blockaded and severely distressed for provisions, had not 
yet fallen ; and while that fortress remained in his rear, the troops block- 
ading it could not join themselves to his army, nor could he feel securely 
established in the French territories. Besides, the Spanish troops, though 
of late much more efficient than formerly in defensive warfare, were' as 
likely to prove dangerous as serviceable to an invading force. Despite 
the numerous and energetic representations of Wellington, the govern- 
ment of Cadiz had given its whole attention to political intrigue, and neg- 



376 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XLIII. 

lected the army : its troops were neither clothed nor paid by its exertions, 
but left to depend on the British rations ; and there was good reason to fear 
that, if allowed to enter France, the Spanish soldiers would excite a na- 
tional resistance, by the measures of retaliation they might be expected 
to adopt toward the inhabitants of that country, in consideration of all 
they had themselves endured at the hands of the French soldiers. Nor 
were these the only difficulties to be encountered. The Cortes, excited 
to madness by the incessant efforts of the republican press at Cadiz, now 
dreaded nothing so much as the success of the allied arms ; and did all 
in their power to thwart the designs of Wellington, whom they openly 
accused of aspiring to the crown of Spain. Mutual recriminations soon 
rose to such a height, that the British general more than once offered to 
resign the supreme command ; and, despairing of success with such 
lukewarm or treacherous allies, he advised the cabinet at London, to 
demand St. Sebastian as a hostage, and, if this were refused, to withdraw 
their forces from the Peninsula. 

But weighty considerations induced the British goverment to insist on 
an invasion of France, notwithstanding all the arguments that could with 
propriety be urged against the measure. They believed with reason, that, 
in the present crisis of Napoleon's affairs, the moral effect of such a de- 
monstration, even if but partially successful, would greatly promote the 
purposes of the Grand Alliance ; and, in this point of view, the object to be 
attained was worth all the risk it implied. Wellington desired in the first 
instance to reduce Pampeluna, and afterward turn his arms against Su- 
chet, who still held Catalonia ; but when he found that the government 
had decided otherwise, he, like a good soldier, set himself to execute, to 
the best of his ability, an offensive campaign, which, on military princi- 
ples, he deemed premature. 

Soult's position on the northern side of the Bidassoa consisted of the base 
of a triangle, of which Bayonne was the apex, and the great roads run- 
ning thence to Irun, on the sea-coast, and St. .lean Pied-de-Port, in the 
interior country, were the sides. The area of this triangle was filled 
with rugged mountains, and intersected by ridges and defiles easily capa- 
ble of defence. The French army was posted in this wild and rocky 
district, and their position, overlooking the valley of the Bidassoa, was 
strengthened at various points by field-works, while a complete redoubt 
crowned the summit of the Rhune Mountain, that rose twenty-eight hun- 
dred feet from the level of the sea, and flanked the eastern extremity of 
their line. In the midst of these strong defences, Soult felt secure from 
any attempt of the allies to dislodge him ; yet Wellington did not hesitate 
to hazard an attack, which he planned in two columns, directing one of 
them, twenty-four thousand strong, against the Lower Bidassoa, and the 
other, twenty thousand strong, against the Rhune Mountain and its adja- 
cent ridges. 

A tempestuous night preceded the attack ; and during the darkness and 
tumult, Wellington advanced a number of his guns so as to bear on the 
enemy's lines, and brought the troops destined to lead the charge close to 
the river's banks, at the several points of crossing ; but the tents of the 
army were left standing on the heights in the rear, and thus, in the morn- 
ing, Soult could not discover that the allies had made any important move- 
ment. At seven o'clock, on the 7th of October, Lord Aylmer's brigade, 
which led the attack, suddenly emerged from behind the ridge that 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 377 

screened them, and advanced rapidly into the ford : at the same moment, 
the allied batteries opened their fire, and, so completely were the French 
surprised, Soult was passing his troops in review, in the centre of his po- 
sition, when he heard the first guns fired. He immediately set out on a 
gallop toward the threatened point ; but before he could arrive, the allies 
had carried it, and firmly established themselves on the French territory. 
Similar success attended the allied right ; every post in the neighborhood 
of the Rhune was forced ; Clausel, who commanded the redoubt on its 
summit, retreated during the night, lest his escape should be entirely cut 
off, and on the morning of the 8th, the whole ridge, from that mountain to 
the sea-coast, was in possession of the allies. 

Wellington's first care was, now, to prevent plundering on the part of 
his troops, and to establish that admirable system of paying regularly for 
the supplies of the army, which had so largely contributed to his success 
in the Peninsula. He accordingly issued a proclamation to the army, in 
which, after recounting the miseries brought on Spain and Portugal by 
the exactions of the French soldiers, he declared it would be unworthy of a 
great nation to retaliate these evils on the innocent inhabitants of France ; 
that he would rigorously punish plundering and every kind of excess ; 
and that in all cases, provisions for the men would be regularly paid for, 
as had been done in the kingdoms of the Peninsula. At first, neither the 
Spanish nor French soldiers credited the declarations of this manifesto — 
so utterly at variance was it from the system by which the former had 
been accustomed to suffer, and the latter to profit, during the Peninsular 
campaigns. But Wellington was both serious and resolute ; and he soon 
gave convincing proof of this by hanging several British and Spanish soU 
diers, who were detected in disobeying his orders. While the allies were 
thus occupied in France, the siege of Pampeluna was vigorously pressed, 
and, on the 31st of October, the garrison of that fortress surrended at dis- 
cretion. 

Soult had, in the meantime, made good use of the month's respite that 
was allowed him, to strengthen his present position on the Nivelle. His 
defences consisted of three lines, one behind another, which equalled those 
of Torres Vedras in strength and solidity. They ran along a chain of 
hills forming, in part, the northern boundary of the valley of the Nivelle, 
aiid stretched from the sea and St. Jean de Luz, on the right, to Mount 
Dareu on the left, and thence to St. Jean Pied-de-Port ; the line was pro- 
tected by a ridge of rocks so rugged that neither army could cross it. A 
second line, in the rear of the first, extended from St. Jean de Luz on the 
right, to Cambo on the left, and embraced the camps of Espelette, Suraide, 
and Sarre ; the principal points where the allied forces were assembled. 
A third line was extended behind Santa Pe, on the road to Ustaritz, but 
its redoubts were incomplete. To protect these works, Soult had eighty 
thousand troops under his command, of whom seventy thousand were 
present in the field. 

On the 9th of November, Wellington prepared for a general attack ; 
and as, after a careful survey, he judged that the French position was 
weakest in the centre, he determined to direct his principal effort to that 
point. The action began at daylight on the 10th, by an assault on the 
French outwork at the Lesser Rhune, which was so far in advance of 
the main line, that it required to be carried before the main attack could 
commence. This fort, perched on a craggy summit and surrounded by 



378 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLIII. 

precipices two hundred feet high, was accessible only on the east by a 
long, narrow belt of rocks, stretching to the valley of the Nivelle : yet, 
despite the great strength of the post, the indomitable bravery of the 43rd 
and 52nd regiments, aided by the Portuguese Cacadores, carried it at the 
point of the bayonet ; the walls were scaled, the garrison captured, and 
the British colors planted on the highest summit of the castle, at an early 
hour in the morning. 

The moment that this fort was won, the whole allied lines pressed for- 
ward with loud cheers and wild enthusiasm. Point after point yielded to 
their charge ; and, although occasionally arrested by the formidable re- 
doubts that lay in their way^ the flood of war did not the less impetuously 
roll on, until these isolated landmarks were overwhelmed and submerged 
by the foaming tide. Before night, Soult's army was in full retreat, and 
the whole line of the Nivelle, with its superb positions and six miles of 
intrenchments, fell into the hands of the allies. On the 11th, Soult reached 
his fortified camp on the Nive, before Bayonne, which town, situated at 
the confluence of the Nive and the Adour, commands the passage of both 
rivers, and he resolved there to make a final stand against the advance of 
the allies. The camp, being under the protection of the guns of the for- 
tress immediately in its rear, could not well be attacked in front, for which 
reason Soult stationed there but six divisions, under D'Erlon. The right 
wing, consisting of Reille's divisions and Vilatte's reserve, lay to the west 
of the fortress on the Lower Adour, where a flotilla of gun-boats rode at 
anchor, while the approach to it was covered by a swamp and an artificial 
inundation. The left, under Clausel, posted on the west of Bayonne, was 
protected partly by an inundation and partly by a large fortified house, 
which had been converted into an advanced work. The country in front, 
was inclosed and intersected by woods and hedgerows, and a portion of 
D'Erlon's men occupied it beyond the Nive, in front of Ustaritz, and as 
far as Cambo. The great advantage of Soult's position lay in this, that 
the troops, in case of disaster, might find refuge under the cannon of 
Bayonne ; and, as he had an interior line of communication through that 
fortress, he could, at pleasure, throw the weight of his forces from one 
flank to another upon the enemy. 

But, although in a military point of view, Soult was thus advantageously 
posted, he had to contend with serious difficulties in the body of his army 
and in the country by which he was surrounded. The reaction of the 
system of making war maintain war, now pressed with terrible but just 
severity on the falling state. Money could not be obtained from Paris ; 
and the usual resource of the French government on such emergencies — 
that of levying contributions — however warmly approved, while foreign 
countries bore the burden, was regarded as an intolerable grievance 
when it fell upon themselves. Indeed, the exactions of the French au- 
thorities became so oppressive that numbers of the peasantry migrated 
into the British lines, where they not only escaped forced contributions, 
but found a ready market and liberal price for all their commodities. 
An official letter, written from Bayonne at this period, says, " The English 
general's policy and the good discipline he maintains, does us more harm 
than ten battles : every peasant wishes to be under his protection." 

Wellington having, on the 8th of December, completed with accuracy 
his prep^atory movements, ordered the attack to be commenced early 
on the following morning ; which was accordingly done, in a manner 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 379 

worthy of troops accustomed to victory. But a position like Soult's could 
not be forced by any hasty assault ; the battle in front of Bayonne was 
waged with determined obstinacy for two entire days, and it resulted in 
the retreat of the French lo a circumscribed line within the protection of 
the fortress, and the establishment by the allies of a rigid blockade 
around its beleaguered walls. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

EUROPE IN ARMS AGAINST FRANCE. 

When the campaign of 1813 terminated — when the remnant of the 
Grand Army wended its way across the Rhine, and the once triumphant 
Peninsular host abandoned the fields of Spain — the magnitude of the revo- 
lution it had effected seemed almost beyond the power of belief. Within 
a little more than three months, four hundred thousand French troops, 
flushed with recent victory, had been grouped around the fortresses of the 
Elbe ; and two hundred thousand, proud of having driven the British 
from the plains of Castile, were prepared to maintain, on the Tormes or 
the Ebro, the long disputed dominion of the Peninsula. Yet, of all this 
immense force, not more than eighty thousand had gained the left bank 
of the Rhine, and but a similar number remained to check the progress 
of the invader on the Adour and the Pyrenees : the rest had fallen before 
the sword of the enemy, or wasted away under the horrors of the bivouac 
and the hospital, or were shut up without a hope of escape in the German 
fortresses. The few who had regained their native land, bore with them 
an incipient contagion, which rendered their presence a source of weak- 
ness rather than strength to their suffering countrymen. The vast fabric 
of the French Empire had disappea^d like a cloud ; its external influ- 
ence, its foreign alliances, had vanished ; the liberated nations of Europe, 
with shouts of triumph and songs of gratulation, were passing forward 
in arms to overwhelm its remains ; and the mighty victor, reft of his con- 
quests and his defenders, was exposed to the combined attack of those 
whom former wrongs had roused to resistance, and recent heroism led to 
victory. 

The forces of the Revolution had hitherto basked in the sunshine of 
prosperity ; but the period now approached when this long career of 
fortune was to be succeeded by a more brief, indeed, but also more stri- 
king course of adversity ; when the armies of Europe, instead of being 
arrayed with France against England, were to be leagued with England 
against France ; when disaster was to break in pieces the supremacy of 
former times, and the iron was to enter into the soul, not merely of the 
sinking nation, but of every family and individual of which it was 
composed. 

Napoleon set out for Paris from Mayence early in November, and 
arrived at St. Cloud on the 9th of that month. For the second time, 
within the year, he had returned defeated ; his army lost, his power 
shaken, and his glory dimmed. Nevertheless, his energies were equal 



380 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XLIV. 

to the emergency. He immediately convoked the Council of State, to 
whom he made a candid statement of his losses, and represented the ne- 
cessity of vigorous measures to avert the danger which threatened the 
Empire. The Council, consisting of the secretaries of state, Talleyrand 
and Mole, implicitly adopted his views, averred that a dictatorship had 
become indispensable, and that vast sacrifices must be demanded from 
France. The Emperor set the example of such sacrifice, by appropri- 
ating to the public service thirty millions of francs from his private 
treasure in the Tuileries ; and he speedily gave earnest of what he ex- 
pected from his subjects, and of the despotic power he was about to 
exercise, by issuing, of his own authority and without any legislative 
sanction, a decree, which caused an addition of nearly one-third to the 
land, window and door-tax, three-fifths to the excise duties and salt-tax, 
and at the same time doubled the personal tax. Although these imposi- 
tions were obviously illegal, even according to the shadow of constitu- 
tional freedom that remained to France under the Imperial regime, no 
other means remained of replenishing the now totally exhausted treasury. 
Public credit, too, was ruined : the three per cents, stood at forty-five ; 
the Bank actions of one thousand, at three hundred and four ; and not a 
capitalist willing to advance the government a hundred francs could be 
found in France. 

But, however indispensable these arbitrary exactions might be to the 
public necessities, they were by no means acceptable to the nation. The 
unparalleled disasters of the last two years, and the continual drain of 
the taxes and the conscription on the wealth and population of the Em- 
pire, had produced a general discontent, which the influence of the 
Imperial government could not stifle, and which its terrors could not 
overawe. A_ general feeling of horror, therefore, spread through the 
community at the announcement of new taxes and a further conscription ; 
and the unbending character and notorious ambition of the Emperor, 
seemed to preclude all hope of the termination of the war but in the 
destruction of France itself. The temper of the people was perhaps best 
illustrated by the tone of numerq^ defamatory couplets, which were in- 
dustriously circulated, and eageny received in society : one of these, 
affixed to the column in the Place Vendome, which column was sur- 
mounted by a statue of the Emperor, bore that " if the blood which the 
tyrant had shed were all collected in that square, it would reach to his 
lips, and he might drink it without stooping his head." 

Nothing could exceed the astonishment of the inhabitants on the west- 
ern bank of the Rhine, when they beheld the broken remains of the 
French army crossing that river, and spreading like a flood over the 
country. The number of the fugitives was so considerable, that the 
people, whose zeal and charity were taxed to the utmost, could provide 
no effectual remedy for the suflfering host. In the fortified cities, where 
the greater portion of the soldiers sought a refuge, they endured far more 
misery than in the villages. The typhus fever, which they brought with 
them from Germany, soon spread to such a degree among the exhausted 
crowds within the walled towns, that not only a large portion of the mili- 
tary, but also of the citizens, were prostrated on beds of sickness. The 
hospitals, churches, halls of justice and private houses, overflowed with 
a ghastly and dying multitude ; and the mortality of the disease increased 
so rapidly, that in Mayence alone the number of deaths, for several sue- 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 381 

cessive weeks, was not less than five hundred a day. The exhalations 
from this mass of dead bodies, which the survivors with all their efforts 
could not succeed in burying, poisoned the atmosphere, and spread an 
insupportable and pestilential odor throughout the city. In other towns, 
when the churchyards and ordinary places of sepulture became over- 
charged with corses, and interment in coffins was impossible, the bodies 
were thrown into trenches without the walls ; thousands were consigned 
to the Rhine, whence they floated down, as from a vast field of carnage, 
to the German Ocean ; and even the shores of the Baltic were polluted 
by the corses which, borne by the waters of the Elbe, the Oder, and the 
Vistula, from the several fortresses on their banks, proclaimed the end 
and the recompense of the external Revolutionary government. 

The internal government of Marie Louise, as regent, after the departure 
of the Emperor for the German campaign, was little calculated either to 
attract the admiration or dispel the anxieties of the people. She fulfilled, 
with docility, all the forms required by her elevated situation ; and, inca- 
pable of apprehending the perils or the duties that attended it, she listened 
with impassible temper to the unbounded flatteries which assailed her, 
and mechanically made the fearful demands on the blood of her subjects 
which the necessities of the state required. In August, she obtained a 
temporary respite from the formalities which oppressed her in the capital, 
by a journey to Cherbourg, where she beheld the completion of the vast 
granite basin in the harbor of that town, commenced under the reign of 
Louis XVI., and continued and finished by the unwearied perseverance 
of Napoleon. On her return to Paris, in September, she was required to 
authorize a demand of the Emperor for a conscription of thirty thousand 
men from the southern departments ; and, on the 10th of October, she 
issued another requisition for two hundred and eighty thousand from the 
whole Empire. The conscripts were ordered to be taken in the following 
proportions : one hundred and twenty thousand from the class which 
would attain the legal age in 1814, and the remainder from the class of 
1815 ; this demand, therefore, forced into the army youths of seventeen 
and eighteen, who necessarily w%e hardly capable of bearing arms, and 
wholly unfit to withstand the fatigue of a campaign. 

Yet even these supplies were inadequate to meet the wants of the Em- 
pire, after the disasters of Leipsic had thrown back the French army 
behind the Rhine, and the invasion of Wellington had exposed the de- 
fenceless condition of the southern frontier. Accordingly, the day after 
Napoleon returned to Paris, he called on the Senate for an additional levy 
of three hundred thousand men ; and as the previous conscriptions had 
entirely exhausted tlie youth of France, this requisition was applied retro- 
spectively to the classes which had escaped, or endured and survived, 
that terrible ordeal from 1803 to 1813. Thus, within two months, six 
hundred thousand men were demanded to recruit the French armies. 

Napoleon next prepared to resist the dreaded invasion of the allies ; 
and he dispatched engineers to the principal fortresses on the northern 
frontier, with instructions to repair the walls, arm the ramparts, fortify the 
bridges and defiles, and make every possible arrangement for a vigorous 
defence. But when the engineers arrived at their posts, and became 
acquainted with the deplorable state of the army, as well as with the 
want of magazines, provisions, and artillery for putting the fortresses in 
a tenable condition, they saw that the Rhenish frontier could not be main- 



382 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLIV. 

tained. The Rhine presents, indeed, a formidable line of defence, if 
guarded by four hundred thousand men ; but it cannot be held by sixty 
or seventy thousand soldiers worn out with fatigue, depressed by defeat, 
suffering under disease, and unsupplied with provisions and ammunition. 
Napoleon resolved, therefore, to abandon the Rhine, and fall back across 
the Vosges mountains. 

Meanwhile, the domestic difficulties of France fearfully increased, 
owing in a great measure to the enforcement of the conscription. The 
price of substitutes rose to twenty-five thousand, and in some cases to 
thirty thousand francs. Families of respectability parted with their whole 
fortunes, the earnings and savings of a long life, to save their sons from 
destruction : it being universally understood, and not the less true, that 
purchasing a substitute for the conscription was bribing one man to sacri- 
fice his life for another. Desertion, too, became incessant, and the pre- 
fects were constantly occupied in enforcing its penalties. Long files of 
young conscripts were everywhere to be seen marching to their places 
of punishment, with haggard visages, downcast eyes, and a four-and- 
twenty pound shot chained to their ancles ; while great numbers, espe- 
cially in the mountain districts, driven to desperation by the fate of the 
battle-field and the hospital on the one hand, and the alternative of such a 
punishment on the other, formed themselves into roving bands, subsisted by 
plunder, and bade defiance to the gendarmes and local authorities. Napo- 
leon, alarmed at this dangerous and increasing disaffection, adjourned the 
meeting of the Chamber of Deputies to the 19th of December, hoping that, 
in the interim, the negotiations already commenced with the allies might 
take a favorable turn, and afford at least a prospect of peace, to satisfy the 
general desire for it, in which, however, he did not participate. At the 
same time, to prevent the discontent from affecting the voice of the Depu- 
ties, the Senate passed a decree in direct violation of the Constitution, 
empowering the Emperor to nominate the president of the Chamber, and 
prorogating the seats of those deputies whose terms had expired, that the 
excitement incident to new elections might be avoided. 

While France was thus reaping the legitimate fruits of domestic revolu- 
tion and external aggression, England exhibited a memorable example of 
the opposite results, flowing from a strictly conservative system of govern- 
ment ; and she afforded a proof of the almost boundless resources which a 
free and orderly country can develope during a protracted and arduous war. 
Parliament assembled this year on the 4th of November, and the speech 
from the throne dwelt with marked emphasis on the extraordinary success 
of the last campaign. It contained also, the important declaration, that 
"no disposition to require from France sacrifices of any description incon- 
sistent with her honor or just pretensions as a nation, will ever be, on the 
part of his royal highness, the prince regent, or his allies, an obstacle to 
the conclusion of peace." The address in answer, moved by the adhe- 
rents of the ministers, was agreed to in both houses without a dissenting 
voice. Still, though the language of the government was thus pacific, 
its ministers, like prudent statesmen — who know that the olive-branch is 
in vain tendered with one hand, if the sword be not at the same time un- 
sheathed in the other — not only admitted no relaxation in their warlike 
efforts, but prepared to maintain the contest on a scale more colossal 
than before. 

The allied sovereigns at Frankfort had, in the meantime, adopted a 



1813.] HISTORYOFEUROPE 383 

measure which, more than any other, tended to elevate their cause in 
the estimation of mankind, and to sever Napoleon from the support of the 
French people. The Baron Saint Aignan, ambassador of France at the 
court of Saxe-Weimar, had been made prisoner during the advance of 
the allies to the Rhine; and he was received, after his capture, with 
marked kindness by Metternich, who assured him, in the most emphatic 
terms, of the anxious wish of the allied powers, and especially of his own 
sovereign, for a general peace. Five days after this, the assembled 
monarchs sent for the count, reiterated in person their pacific desires, 
and sent him to Paris with a private letter from the Emperor Francis to 
Marie Louise ; they sent also a diplomatic note signed by the whole con- 
ference, stating the conditions on which they were willing to negotiate. 
The basis of these conditions was, that France should be restricted to her 
natural limits, between the Rhine, the Alps and the Pyrenees ; that 
Spain should be restored to its legitimate dynasty ; and that the inde- 
pendence of Italy and Germany should be secured to princes of their 
native families. The count was assured that if these terms were agreed 
to, England would make great sacrifices, and recognize every liberty of 
commerce and navigation to which France had any claim, and that 
nothing would be insisted on hostile to the dynasty of Napoleon. 

To these propositions, Maret, on the part of the French Emperor, re- 
plied, that a peace concluded on the basis of the independence of all 
nations, as well in a continental as in a maritime point of view, had been 
the constant object of his majesty's solicitude; and he designated the city 
of Manheim, on the right bank of the Rhine, as an eligible place for con- 
ducting the negotiations. But he avoided saying whether Napoleon 
would accede to the terms proposed by the allies — an omission of which 
Metternich complained, as that point was vital to any subsequent discus- 
sion. Maret again replied, that in admitting as a basis the independence 
of all nations. Napoleon had, in effect, admitted all that the allies claimed; 
and with this explanation Metternich professed himself satisfied. 

Hitherto, therefore, everything seemed to augur well for the opening 
of the negotiation; and the better to set forth their views, the allied sove- 
reigns published a manifesto, dated Frankfort, 1st of December, 1813, of 
the principles on which they were willing to treat, and the objects for 
which the Alliance contended : and the history of the world does not 
contain a more noble instance of justice and moderation in the hour of 
triumph. "The allied powers," it declared, "desirous of obtaining a 
general peace on a solid foundation, promulgate, in the face of the world, 
the principles which are the basis and guide of their conduct, their wishes 
and their determinations. The allied powers do not make war on France, 
but on that preponderance of power which, to the misfortune of Europe 
and of France, the Emperor Napoleon has long exercised beyond the 
limits of his dominions. They desire that France should be powerful and 
happy ; that commerce should revive and the arts flourish ; that her ter- 
ritory should preserve an extent unknown to her ancient kings ; because 
the French nation is, in Europe, one of the fundamental bases of the 
social edifice ; because a great people can be happy only so long as they 
are tranquil ; because a brave nation is not to be regarded as overthrown 
when, in its turn, it has experienced reverses, after a struggle in which it 
has combated with its accustomed valor : but the allied powers wish to 
be themselves happy and tranquil ; they wish a state of peace which, by 



384 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLIV. 

a wise division of power, by a just equilibrium, may hereafter preserve 
their people from the calamities, that for twenty years, have oppressed 
Europe. The allied powers will not lay down their arms until they 
have attained that result ; they will not lay them down until tlie political 
state of Europe is secured anew ; until the immutable principles of justice 
have resumed their ascendant over vain pretensions ; and until the sanc- 
tity of treaties has finally secured the tranquillity of Europe." 

When sentiments so elevated and generous were proclaimed by the 
allied powers, it might reasonably have been expected that the negotia- 
tions would immediately commence on the part of the French govern- 
ment : assuredly, never before were a defeated monarch and nation thus 
invited to concur in the pacification of the world. Nevertheless, Napo- 
leon delayed his proceedings by every possible expedient, and six weeks 
afler Saint Aignan had been dispatched with these pacific overtures, the 
plenipotentiaries were not yet designated. The allies accepted the basis 
suggested by Napoleon, on the 10th of December; but their letter, notify- 
ing such acceptance, was not answered by Caulincourt until the 6th of 
January — previous to which time the allies had crossed the Rhine at all 
points, and carried the war into the French territory : consequently the 
negotiation, at a still later period, commenced at Chatillon. Napoleon 
in fact, had now no pacific intentions ; but desired, by means of equivoca 
tion and delay, to gain time to complete his defensive preparations. 
Nothing could be further from his purpose than to withdraw permanently 
behind the Rhine, the Alps and the Pyrenees : and although the other 
sovereigns were desirous of an accommodation, Alexander, thoroughly 
penetrating the character of the despot, and with reason doubting whether 
actual peace with Napoleon were practicable, believed that the wiser 
plan for the alliance was to await the course of military events, and not 
enter into engagements which might prove prejudicial to the common 
cause. The negotiation, therefore, that at first promised so much, came 
to nothing — the views of the contracting parties were so much at variance, 
that the great question of peace or war could be decided only by the 
sword. 

Napoleon ostensibly entertained the allies' proposals for peace, to gain 
the further benefit of stating to the Chamber of Deputies that negotiations 
were in progress. But the members of that body were not to be amused by 
vague generalities, nor deceived by specious representations ; and, notwith- 
standing the pains taken by almost absolute power to exclude from seats 
in the Chamber all but those wholly devoted to Napoleon, it soon appeared 
that the action of a large party in that assembly was beyond the Emperor's 
control. The first serious business undertaken by the Senate and Cham- 
ber was the nomination, by each, of a committee, to whom the documents 
connected with the negotiations for peace should be submitted. The 
persons designated for this purpose by the Senate, being strongly in the 
interest of Napoleon, were accepted by him ; but in the Chamber, a list 
of names that had been officially circulated for adoption by the deputies, 
was rejected by a considerable majority ; and in its stead, a committee of 
individuals, who, with the exception of Laine, were previously unknown, 
was appointed. From this it might easily be foreseen, that a serious contest 
with his own legislature awaited the Emperor. 

At a secret meeting of the Chamber, on the 28th of December, Lain^, 
chairman of the committee thus appointed, submitted a report, which set 



1813.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 385 

forth that, " to prevent the country from becoming a prey to foreigners, 
it is indispensable to nationalize the war: and this cannot be done unless 
the people and their sovereign are united by closer bonds. It is neces- 
sary to give a satisfactory answer to our enemies' accusation of a desire 
for aggrandizement ; and there would be magnanimity in the formal 
declaration that the independence of the French people, and the integrity 
of its territory, is all that we contend for. It is the duty of the govern- 
ment to propose measures which may at once repel the invaders, and 
secure peace on a durable basis. These measures would be immediately 
efficacious, if the French people were persuaded that their monarch, in 
good faith, aspires only to the glory of peace, and that their blood will no 
longer be shed but to defend our country and secure the protection of the 
laws. Bui these words, ' peace' and ' country,' will resound in vain, if 
the institutions which secure these blessings are not guarantied. It ap- 
pears to the committee, therefore, to be indispensable that, while the gov- 
ernment proposes the most prompt and efficacious measures for the security 
of the country, his majesty should be supplicated to maintain entire the 
execution of the laws which guaranty to the French liberty and security. 
and to the nation the free exercise of its political rights. 

"Let us attempt no dissimulation: our evils are at their height; our 
frontiers are menaced by the enemy ; commerce is annihilated ; ao-ricul- 
ture languishes, and industry is expiring : there is no Frenchman who 
has not, in his family or his fortune, some cruel wound. The facts are 
notorious, and can never be too often repeated. Agriculture, for the last 
five years, has gained nothing; the fruit of its toil is annually dissipated 
by the treasury, which unceasingly devours everything to satisfy the 
cravings of ruined and famished armies. The conscription has become 
a frightful scourge for all France. Since 1810, the harvest of death has 
been reaped three times in each year, A barbarous war, without an 
object, cuts oiT all the youth of the land. Have, then, the tears of mothers 
and the blood of whole generations become the patrimony of kings ? It is 
fit that nations should have a moment's breathing-time, that thrones should 
be consolidated, and that our enemies should be d<=?prived of the argument 
that we are constantly striving to inflame the world with the torch of 
revolution." 

The reading of the report, from which these passages are extracted, 
raised a storm in the Chamber. It was so long since liberty and political 
rights had been discussed within those walls, that the courtiers started as 
if they had heard treason proposed. The president interrupted tiie read- 
ing. "Orator," said he, "what you say is unconstitutional." "In 
what ?" demanded Laine ; " there is nothing unconstitutional liere but 
your presence !" After some discussion the debate was adjourned to the 
30th, and an overwhelming majority voted an address to the Emperor, 
and decreed the printing and circulation of Laine's report. Napoleon, 
however, ordered the printing to be stopped, refused to receive the address, 
and compelled the Council of State to issue a decree dissolving the Cham- 
ber of Deputies. 

The presence of external danger at this period, extorted from Napoleon 
two important concessions in foreign diplomacy, which, of themselves, 
implied a total abandonment, on his part, of the chief objects of his Conti- 
nental policy, and were calculated to effect an entire change in the re- 
lations of the European states to each other. 

N 



386 HISTORY OFEU ROPE. [Chap. XLIV. 

The former of these was the treaty of Valencay, by which the French 
Emperor, abandoning the pretensions of his brother Joseph, agreed to 
liberate Ferdinand VII. from his imprisonment, and restore him to the 
throne of Spain. It was further stipulated in this instrument, that the 
British troops should retire from the Spanish territory ; that Port Mahon 
and Ceuta should never be ceded to Great Britain ; that the contracting 
parties should guaranty each other's dominions, and maintain the rights 
of their respective flags, agreeably to the conditions of the treaty of 
Utrecht ; and that the late monarch should receive an annuity of thirty 
millions of reals. It was also provided, that the treaty should be binding 
when ratified by the regency established at Madrid. The regency and 
the Cortes, however, had the sense and firmness to refuse their ratifica- 
tion : Ferdinand was, nevertheless, sent back to Spain. 

Napoleon's second concession was, a consent to liberate the pope from 
his protracted and painful confinement at Fontainebleau. The detention 
of the Supreme Pontilf had long scandalized all Christendom, and the 
French Emperor had felt the consequence of the general indignation it 
excited, in the inveterate hostility of the Peninsular War, as well as in 
the readiness with which Austria had joined her forces to those of the 
European confederacy. With the twofold purpose, therefore, of taking 
this argument from his enemies, and of propitiating Austria — for he never 
ceased to expect secret favor from that power, by reason of his matrimo- 
nial alliance — he made overtures to the pope early in January, 1814, 
offering to restore the territory of the Holy See as far as Perugio. The 
pope replied, that the restitution of his dominions was an act of simple 
justice which could not be a fit subject of treaty, especially while he re- 
mained in captivity. He added, " Possibly, by reason of our faults, we 
are unworthy again to behold the Eternal City ; but our successors will 
recover the dominions that appertain to them. You may assure the Em- 
peror that we feel no hostility toward him ; religion does not permit it ; 
and, when we are at Rome, we shall do what is suitable." The neces- 
sities of Napoleon, however, forced him to disembarrass himself of the 
presence of the pope, even though he could not extort from him anything 
with which to prop up the falling Empire of France ; accordingly, on the 
22nd of January, his holiness was conveyed from Fontainebleau toward 
the southern departments. Yet even in this compulsory act, the grasping 
disposition of Napoleon was rendered apparent : for, on various frivolous 
pretexts, he threw obstacles in the way of the pontiff's journey, hoping 
that a change of fortune in the field would still enable him to recall and 
retain so notable a prisoner. 

Murat was at this time in negotiation both with Napoleon and with the 
allied powers ; his purpose being at all hazards to maintain his throne, by 
uniting himself to whichever of the belligerent parties was, in his judgment, 
likely to prove successful. He eventually came to terms whh the allies, 
and concluded a treaty with them on the ilth of January, by which they 
guarantied his dominions, and he agreed to join their forces on the Po 
with thirty thousand men. As soon as this treaty was signed, he marched 
an army, twenty thousand strong, against Rome, and drove the French 
garrison into the castle of St. Angelo. 

In the general anxiety to retain dignities and possessions, even Eugene 
Beauharnois became infected with the disloyalty of the period. He in- 
deed publicly averred, that he would never separate himself from his 



1814.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 397 

benefactor, yet in secret he received overtures from the allies, and sent a 
plenipotentiary to Chatillon to negotiate for his separate interests. His 
purposes were eventually defeated ; but this was owing to the impossibility 
of reconciling his pretensions with the ambitious views of Austria, not to 
any disinclination on his part to desert the cause of Napoleon. 

A more honorable constancy, at least in intention, was exhibited in the 
north of Europe : but the march of events could not be controlled ; and 
the most faithful allies of France were compelled to range themselves on 
the side of the European Confederacy. The Danes, jealous of Russia to 
the last degree, and hostile toward England for twice invading her shores 
and conquering her capital, entertained strong predilections for the 
French alliance. Nevertheless, separated from the armies of Napoleon 
by the evacuation of Germany ; unable to succor or derive aid from the 
corps of Davoust blockaded in Hamburg ; menaced by the forces of 
Bernadotte on the south and the fleets of England on the north, the cab- 
inet of Copenhagen had no alternative but submission, even at the ex- 
pense of severing Norway from their dominions. A treaty was therefore 
concluded between Denmark and the allies, on the 14th of January, 
stipulating that the former should join the coalition against France, and 
furnish for the common cause an army, the strength of which should 
thereafter be determined. The King of Denmark agreed to the cession 
of Norway to Sweden ; the King of Sweden engaging to maintain invi- 
olate the rights and privileges of its inhabitants; and Denmark received in 
exchange the Duchy of Pomerania, and the island of Rugen. 

The allied congress at Frankfort, after adjusting the pretensions, deter- 
mining the reclamations, and soothing the jealousies of the numerous 
princes of the Rhenish Confederacy, had a delicate and complicated task 
to fulfil in combining their several powers into one effective league for 
the prosecution of the war. The general enthusiasm, however, rendered 
these difficulties less formidable than they would have been at any other 
period ; and the previous organization of Napoleon presented a system, 
already complete and of skilful construction, which was now applied 
against himself. By two treaties, concluded at Frankfort on the 18th 
and 24th of November, 1813, the important objects were secured of provi- 
ding for the maintenance of the Grand Army, and regulating the contingents 
to be furnished by the German princes who had joined the Confederacy. 
Each of these princes agreed to procure at once, on his own credit, a 
sum equal to the gross revenue of his dominions : and the sum thus raised 
exceeded seventeen millions of florins. The contingent of each state was 
rated at double that which it had furnished to the Confederation of the 
Rhine ; one-half to consist of troops of the line, and the other half of 
landwehr, or militia: in addition to this, corps of volunteers were allowed 
to be raised, and the landsturm, or levy en masse, was organized in all 
countries that seemed to require such extraordinary precautions. The 
troops of the line thus levied, independent of the Bavarian forces, thirty- 
five thousand strong, amounted to more than a hundred thousand, besides 
an equal number of landwehr. Of these. Saxony furnished twenty thou- 
sand ; Hanover, twenty thousand ; Hesse, twelve thousand ; Wirtemberg, 
twelve thousand ; and Baden, ten thousand ; the smaller provinces com- 
pleted the remainder. 

The accession of Switzerland to the Alliance, which took place on the 
29th of December, resulted rather from necessity than from voluntary 
N2 



.•^88 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XLIV 

action — the allied forces having first entered the Swiss territories in great 
strength, and insisted on the cooperation of the Helvetic Confederacy. 
Thus adjured, a majority of the deputies of the old Cantons, Uri, Schwytz, 
Lucerne, Zurich, Glarus, Zug, Fribourg, Bale, Schaffhausen and Ap- 
penzel, annulled the constitution introduced by Napoleon, and promul- 
gated the principle that no one Canton should be subject to another 
Canton : a declaration which, by virtually raising the hitherto dependent 
districts of St. Gall, Thurgovia, Argovia, and the Pays de Vaud, to the 
rank of independent members of the Confederacy, laid the foundation of 
a more equal government in future times. 

The forces which the allied powers had assembled by the end of De- 
cember, to cooperate in the projected invasion of France, were thus 
disposed. The Grand Army, still under the immediate direction of 
Schwartzenberg, numbered tvvo hundred and sixty thousand combatants, 
and was destined to act on the side of Switzerland and Franche Compte, 
where there were no fortresses except Besanqon, Huningen, and Sarre 
Louis. The second army, still called the army of Silesia, under the 
orders of Blucher, amounted to a hundred and thirty-seven thousand 
men, and occupied the northeastern frontier of France, between May ence 
and Coblentz, and threatened it on the side of Champagne and the Vosges 
mountains. Tlie third army, under Bernadotte, mustering a hundred 
and seventy-four thousand soldiers, lay on the Lower Rhine, between Co- 
logne and Dusseldorf, with the iron barrier of the Netherlands, yet in the 
enemy's hands, directly in their front. Besides these immense masses, 
the allies had collected, or were collecting, reserves from the various 
states of the Confederacy, to the number of no less than two hundred and 
thirty-five thousand men: these, with eighty thousand under Bellqgarde, 
destined to act in the north of Italy, and a hundred and forty thousand 
British, Portuguese and Spaniards under Wellington in Beam and Cata- 
lonia, formed a grand total of one bullion and twenty-six thousand 
MEN in arms against France. All the troops, of which this stupendous 
host was composed, were not yet present in the field, although they could 
be eventually relied on: but a large proportion of the whole were actu- 
ally oro-anized for efficient operations. 

Napoleon could bring but an inadequate force to oppose this enormous 
array ; his total musters at all points, scarcely exceeded two hundred 
and fifty thousand men for the defence of the Empire. They were thus 
distributed : fifty thousand, under Eugene in Italy, maintained a doubt- 
ful defensive against the Austrians ; a hundred thousand, under Soult, 
in Beam, and Suchet, in Catalonia, struggled against Wellington ; and 
Napoleon had at his disposal but a hundred and ten thousand to resist the 
invasion of the allies on the Rhine. In explanation of the small num- 
bers of these forces, it remains to be said, that the recent conscription* 
had by reason of evasion or desertion on the one hand, and the actual 
deficiency of male population on the other, almost utterly failed. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

FIRST CAMPAIGN OF 1814. 

On the night of December 20th, 1813, the ai'my of Schwartzenberg, 
two hundred and sixty thousand strong, passed the Rhine, between Shaff- 
haussen and Bale, and overspread the adjacent districts of Switzerland 
and France. The several corps soon separated themselves under their 
different leaders, and took the directions assigned them in the plan of the 
campaign. Bubna, with the left wing, marched toward Geneva ; the 
centre, under Hesse-Homberg, Colloredo, Prince Louis of Lichtenstein, 
Giulay and Bianchi, proceeded by the great road of Vesnoul toward 
Langres ; while Wrede, the Prince Royal of Wirtemberg, and Wittgen- 
stein, with the right wing, moved across Lorraine and Franche Compte, 
until they gained the line of the centre on the road to Langres. Bubna 
reached Geneva on the 30th, and the garrison of that town capitulated, 
on condition of being sent to France ; detachments of his corps afterward 
readily made themselves masters of the passes of the Simplon and the 
Great St. Bernard ; thus interposing between France and Italy, and 
cutting off Napoleon's communications with Eugene. The centre, mean- 
while, pressed forward through Vesnoul and invested Besancon, Befort 
and Huningen ; and Victor, unable to withstand such masses, fell back 
from the defiles of the Vosges mountains toward Champagne. The 
Emperor in vain dispatched Mortier to the support of Victor; their united 
forces were inadequate to make head against the invaders ; and, on the 
16th of January, Langres — the most valuable post, in a strategetical 
point of view, in the East of France — was abandoned by the two marshals 
and occupied by the allies. 

The army of Blucher commenced the passage of the Rhine, at several 
points, on the 31st of December. Sacken, with one division, crossed at 
Manheim by means of a flotilla assembled at the confluence of the Neckar. 
D'York and Langeron passed on a bridge of boats at Caube, near Bacha- 
rach ; and St. Priest forced his way across opposite Coblentz. In one of 
the squares of the last mentioned town, stood a monument erected by the 
prefect to commemorate the occupation of Moscow by the French. Its 
inscription ran thus : " To the Great Napoleon, in honor of the Immortal 
Campaign of 1812." Colonel Mardeuke, who took command of Coblentz, 
instead of destroying this monument, embellished it with the following 
additional in'scription : "Seen and approved by the Russian commander 
of Coblentz, in 18J 3." Blucher pressed on with great impetuosity, taking, 
successively, Kayserbautern,. Nancy, Brienne and St. Dizier, which last 
place he gained on the 25th of January. 

Indeed, within a month from the invasion of the French territory, nearly 
one third of its extent had been wrested by the allies from the grasp of 
Napoleon. The army of Silesia had conquered the country from the 
Rhine to the Marne, crossed the Sarre, the Moselle and the Meuse, passed 
the formidable defiles of the Vosges and Hundswick mountains, and de- 
scended into the plains of Champagne. Schwartzenberg had crossed the 
Upper Rhine, traversed part of Switzerland, surmounted the lofty ridge 
N3 



390 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLV. 

of the Jura, overrun Franche Compte, Lorraine, and Alsace, gained the 
plains of Burgundy, and entered into communication with the army of 
Silesia, by means of his right wing, while his left occupied Geneva and 
the defiles of the Aisne, and threatened Lyons. Thus their united forces 
extended nearly three hundred miles in a diagonal line across France, 
from the frontiers of Flanders to the banks of the Rhone : all the inter- 
mediate country in their rear — embracing a third of the old monarchy, 
and comprehending its most warlike provinces — was cut off; its fortresses 
being blockaded and its resources lost to Napoleon. 

Bernadotte was not long in following the lead of invasion. One of his 
corps, under Winzingerode, advanced toward Brussels on the 15th of 
.fanuary, and forced Macdonald, who commanded the French forces in 
that quarter, to fall back upon Namur. The- allies took possession of 
Juliers and Liege on the 18th ; and on the 26th, Macdonald, in obedience 
to the orders of Napoleon, retired toward Laon, abandoning all the open 
country of Flanders, and leaving Antwerp to its own resources. Winzin- 
gerode immediately occupied Namur, and Bulow established the blockade 
of Antwerp. 

Before taking command of the army. Napoleon made new arrange- 
ments for the administration of the government during his absence. The 
regency was conferred by letters patent on Marie Louise, and his brother 
Joseph was created lieutenant-general of the Empire. On Sunda}', the 
23rd, after hearing mass, the Emperor received the principal officers of 
the National Guard at the Tuileries, where his little son was brought 
forward, dressed in the uniform of that corps. Napoleon took the child 
by the hand, and advancing into the midst of the circle of guests, thus 
addressed them : "Gentlemen, as I am going to join the army, I intrust 
to you what I hold dearest in the world — my wife and my son. Let 
there be no political divisions ; let the respect for property, the mainte- 
nance of order, and, above all, the love of France, animate every bosom. 
I will not deny that, in the military operations about to ensue, the enemy 
may approach in force to Paris: but it will be an affair of a few days 
only. I shall soon be on their flanks and rear, and destroy those who 
have dared to invade our country." Then, taking the child in his arms, 
he went through the ranks of the officers and presented him to them as 
their future sovereign. On the day following, he burned his most secret 
papers, gave his final instructions to Joseph and the Council of State, and 
early on the 25th he set forth on his journey, after embracing the Empress 
and his son for the last time : he never saw them again. 

In the afternoon of that day. Napoleon reached Chalons-sur-Marne, 
and, on the 26th, advanced his head-quarters to Vitry. On the 27th, the 
army resumed its march, and the vanguard soon encountered Blucher's 
Cossacks, who were moving from St. Dizier upon Vitry. These wild 
troops, surprised on their route, were easily defeated, and the French 
entered St. Dizier, which had been for some days in the hands of the 
allies. Tn the meantime, Blucher, with characteristic impatience, had 
divided his centre, and at the head of one detachment, twenty-six thousand 
strong, hastened in person to Brienne, while D'York, with twenty thousand, 
moved to St. Michel on the Meuse, and Sacken took post with his corps 
at Lesmont: so that Napoleon, by his march to St. Dizier, had placed 
himself between the corps of the Silesian army, and could fall on its 
separate divisions with superior forces. Improving this advantage to the 



1814.1 HISTORyOFEUROPE. 391 

utmost, he hastened to attack Blucher, who was so wholly unconscious 
of his danger, that, on the morning of the 28th, the French troops had 
approached to within a half-day's march of the allied position ; but at 
this critical moment Blucher received intelligence of their movements, 
and in some degree prepared himself for their assault. 

Brienne stands on a hill-side, and its streets rise in successive tiers one 
above another, until they reach the summit, which is crowned with a 
strong castle. Napoleon made a vigorous attack both on the town and 
on the detachment of allies in its front, and he eventually forced the latter 
to retire within the walls, but not until they had maintained their ground 
long enough to cover the road by which Sacken, who had been ordered 
up from Lesmont, had effected a junction with his commander-in-chief 
The action continued with great vigor through the remainder of the day; 
but Brienne remained in the hands of the allies, and Blucher retired to 
the castle to rest from his fatigue. While taking a survey of the bivouac- 
fires from this elevated building, he was startled by loud cries in the 
avenues leading to it, and these were followed by the discharge of mus- 
ketry and vehement shouts at the foot of the castle. The old marshal 
had barely time to descend the stairs, accompanied by a few of his suite, 
when the place was surrounded and carried by a body of French grena- 
diers, who had stolen unperceived into the grounds. Blucher made his 
escape out of the town, which was also speedily evacuated by his troops, 
and in the morning, Napoleon occupied it and established his head-quarters 
at the castle. 

The allied generals, thoroughly alarmed at Napoleon's unexpected ad- 
vance, made great efforts to concentrate their forces, and soon brought 
together more than a hundred thousand men, under the immediate com- 
mand of the Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia, besides nearly 
fifty thousand reserves under Wittgenstein and Colloredo. The centre 
of the main body, consisting chiefly of Blucher's Prussians, was posted 
on the elevated ridge of Trannes, with Barclay de Tolly in reserve. 
The Prince of Wirtemberg commanded the right wing at Getanie ; and 
Giulay's Austrians formed the left. 

Napoleon, finding himself overmatched, and that the allied army, in- 
stead of being surprised in detail, was fully prepared for an attack and 
hourly increasing in strength, made dispositions for a retreat ; but in 
order to effect this manoeuvre, it was necessary to restore the bridge of 
Lesmont, the only route by which his columns could cross the Aube. 
The allies, however, did not give him time to accomplish this, but, about 
one o'clock in the afternoon of February 1st, they commenced a general 
attack ; and their enthusiasm, together with their great superiority of 
numbers, caused them to prevail against the Frezich centre and "left, 
which were entirely beaten and driven back ; and, although the right 
stood firm, yet before six o'clock, the battle seemed to be decided against 
the French. But Napoleon had been too long a conquering general, to 
despair of the contest while any chance of victory remained. Being re- 
enforced by two fresh divisions under Oudinot, he united these to" the 
broken remains of his left and centre, and led on a final charge. At the- 
first onset, he gained ground ; but Blucher pushed forward a powerful 
reserve, and forced him, after a desperate struggle, to retreat. Napoleon 
returned at midnight to Brienne ; and such was his anxiety lest the allies 
should complete the disorder of his retiring columns by a night attack, 



3^2 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLV. 

he stood for some hours at the windows of the chateau, to see if any 
movement around the watch-fires indicated a renewal of the fight. At 
four o'clock in the morning, convinced that he was not pursued, he gave 
orders for a retreat by Lesmont to Troyes. The French loss in this 
action was six thousand men and seventy-three pieces of cannon; that 
of the allies did not exceed four thousand men. 

■■ The town of Troyes, which contains twenty-two thousand inhabitants, 
lies in a plain at the confluence of the Barce and the Seine ; and though 
incapable of long s'ustaining a regular siege, may be held for some days 
against an enemy advancing on the side of the latter river. Napoleon 
therefore resolved to make a brief stand at this place, that he might re- 
fresh and reorganize his men^^and in this purpose he was greatly aided 
by the dilatory pursuit of the allies. The Austrians, Bavarians and 
Wirlembergers, who from the direction taken by the French retreating 
army, found themselves foremost in following it, were so tardy in their 
movements that they literally lost sight of the enemy, and for two days 
it was unknown at head-quarters whether the French had moved in the 
direction of Arcis, Chalons, or Troyes. Indeed, the secret reluctance of 
Austria to push matters to extremity against Napoleon was already be- 
coming manifest : yet such was the effect of retreat on the spirits of the 
French soldiers, combined with the hardships the young conscripts had 
undergone since they took the field, six thousand deserted during the 
march to Troyes ; and when the army arrived there, it was fully fifteen 
thousand weaker than at the time of its departure from Chalons. 

Nevertheless, the allies, as if resolved to compensate Napoleon for his 
disadvantages by their own incredible stupidity, and apparently forgetting 
that concentration was the principle which, in the preceding autumn, had 
wrought out the deliverance of Germany, separated their masses to act on 
different lines of operation : Blucher, with the army of Silesia, was di- 
rected upon Chalons, with instructions to follow thence the course of the 
Marne to Paris, while Schwartzenberg marched his forces upon Troyes, 
down the valley of the Seine to the same point of rendezvous. The mo- 
ment Napoleon became aware of these movements, he evacuated Troyes, 
which the allies occupied on the 7th of February, and hastening to No- 
gent, where he expected to be joined by a detachment of veterans from 
Soult's army in the south, he made preparations both to resist and attack 
the forces under Blucher. The Prussian marshal, on the 3rd of Feb- 
ruary, passed through St. Ouen — whence D'York had already expelled 
Macdonald — and, finding that Macdonald had retired toward Paris by 
Epernay, determined to intercept him. He therefore ordered D'York to 
follow the French general by the highway through Chateau-Thierry and 
Epernay, at the same time directing Sacken to march on Monfmirail, and 
Olsoofief to remain at Champaubert until further orders. Blucher him- 
self halted at Virtus, to await the arrival of Kleist's corp?, which was 
hourly expected at Chalons. With the three corps united, he proposed 
then to fall on Macdonald's troops, take their grand park of artillery be- 
longing to Napoleon's main army, and press on immediately to Paris, 
where the utmost consternation now prevailed. While planning and in 
part executing this advance, Blucher entertained no fear for his left flank, 
although Napoleon lay in that direction ; for he presumed that the Em- 
peror would be^vholly engrossed with the movements of Schwartzenberg, 
and besides, there intervened between the French head-quarters and the 



1814.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 393 

army of Silesia a rough and marshy country deemed impassable at that 

season of the year. 

On the other hand, Napoleon, aware of Austria's forbearing policy, 
and, consequently, feeling no apprehension of an attack from Schwartzen- 
berg, resolved to fall on the flank that Blucher thus vainly thought secure. 
For this purpose, he marched from Nogent, on the 9th of February, with 
forty-five thousand of his best troops ; but the difficult character of the 
ground on his route, nearly defeated his project. It was only by the 
greatest personal exertions that he could alternately urge and compel his 
soldiers to drag forward the artillery through the deep clay of the forest 
of Traconne. Olsoofief, with five thousand Russians, was at this time 
lying at Champaubert, wholly unconscious of the approaching danger ; 
and, on the morning of the 10th, his men were deliberately preparing 
their breakfast, when the French burst upon them in great force. The 
result of the action could not be doubtful when the numbers were so dis- 
proportionate ; still, the Russians maintained their ground against a simul- 
taneous attack in front and on both flanks, until they had expended their 
last round of ammunition. They then retreated, leaving behind them 
twelve guns, and three thousand men killed, wounded and prisoners ; 
Olsoofief himself also fell into the enemy's hands. This battle, insignifi- 
cant when compared with the more memorable engagements of the period, 
was of vast consequence to Napoleon, for it restored the confidence of his 
men, and enabled him to assume a bolder tone in the negotiations still 
pending with the allies. He wrote immediately to Caulaincourt, directing 
him to gain time and sign nothing ; he also ordered Macdonald to discon- 
tinue his retreat ; and, on the morning of the 11th, he set off by daybreak 
to attack Sacken at Montmirail. 

Sacken was not, like Olsoofief, surprised by the advance of the French ; 
but his force was greatly outnumbered by them, and he lost in the action 
that ensued four thousand men and nine guns. The next day, the battle 
was partially renewed by repeated charges on the retiring columns of the 
allies, who, after an additional loss of two thousand men and eight guns, 
crossed the Marne, broke down its bridges, and gained a respite from Na- 
poleon's pursuit. On the 13th, Blucher — who, for want of troops, had 
remained inactive at Virtus while his lieutenants were suffering these 
defeats — received such reenforcements as enabled him to take the field 
with twenty thousand combatants. He immediately assumed the offen- 
sive, marched against Marmont at Vauchamps, and drove him from that 
village early in the morning of the 14th ; but, while pursuing Marmont's 
routed troops, he encountered the vanguard of Napoleon's army, and was 
himself forced to retreat. This movement, to the last degree difficult and 
perilous, inasmuch as it was to be made over the level ground in his rear, 
where the entire French cavalry could act to advantage, was nevertheless 
persisted in by the indomitable Prussian marshal, who defended himself 
against incessant charges of Groiichy's cuirassiers, and finally, late at 
night, cut his way to Bergeres through every opposing obstacle. In this 
terrible yet glorious retreat, the allies lost seven thousand men, and the 
French scarcely twelve hundred. The next day, Blucher fell back to 
Chalons, where, by a rapid concentration of his several corps, he was 
enabled, on the 18th, to muster sixty thousand effective troops. 

The occupation of Troyes by the allies — which event, as already men- 
tioned, took place on the 7th of February — was followed by some political 



394 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLV/ 

occurrences, interesting as having been the first movements ip France in 
favor of the Restoration of the Bourbons. 

Twenty-one years had now elapsed since the execution of Louis XVI. ; 
and, during the turmoil of succeeding events, the remembrance of his 
race was almost lost in France, and its name had disappeared from the 
page of European history. A feeling of loyalty, however, still existed 
among a few highly descended nobles in detached parts of the Empire, 
and especially in La Vendee, where all classes retained their attachment 
for the legitimate dynasty ; and although a great portion of the ancient 
noblesse liad perished under the guillotine, expired in the revolutionary 
prisons, or vanished amid poverty and oblivion in foreign lands, yet enough 
of that race and its adherents remained to establish a certain organization 
in favor of the Bourbons. The principal branches of this quiescent con- 
spiracy were to be found in La Vendee, Brittany, and the south of France ; 
yet it had both leaders and members in the capital. There, too, some of 
the chief partisans of the Revolution, true to the polar star of worldly 
ambition, anxiously awaited the progress of events ; and, without enga- 
ging in any overt act against the authority of the Emperor, were secretly 
preparing to abandon their principles and their benefactor, the moment 
that he should begin to sink under the weight of adversity. 

While the I'oyalist party, and these less worthy but more powerful 
allies, gradually strengthened themselves against Napoleon, the surviving 
members of the royal family were dwelling in exile in different kingdoms 
of Europe. The Count d'Artois resided for a time at St. Petersburg, in 
1793 ; and the Empress Catharine so far encouraged him as to present 
him with a splendid sword, and expressed the hope that " it might open 
to him the gates of France, as it had done to his ancestor, Henry IV." 
The Count, however, was no soldier ; and he showed so little zeal in his 
own, cause, that a project, at first seriously entertained, for intrusting to 
his command thirty thousand Russians to act on the coast of La Vendee, 
was abandoned. At a later period he repaired to London, where he sold 
the sword for four thousand pounds sterling, and distributed the money 
among the most necessitous of his companions in misfortune. The Count's 
elder brother, who afterward became Louis XVIII., retired from one asy- 
lum to another as the French power advanced. Under the title of Count 
de Lille, he lived frugally and in retirement at Verona, until the approach 
of Napoleon, in 1796, forced him to quit the territories of the Republic. 
He then established himself at Blanckenbourg^ at which place unsuccess- 
ful efforts were made to induce Bonaparte to aid the restoration of the 
Bourbons. In 1797, he withdrew to Mittau, in Livonia, where he received 
a pension of two hundred thousand roubles a year from the Emperor Paul, 
and where, in 1799, he was joined by the Duke and Duchess d'Angou- 
leme ; the former of whom had served with credit in the Royalist corps 
of the Prince of Conde, while the latter brought to that distant solitude 
the recollection of the Temple, and the sympathy and commiseration of 
all Europe. The sudden and unexpected accession of Paul to the French 
alliance, occasioned the promulgation of a rigorous order to the exiles to 
quit the Russian dominions in the depth of winter, January 21st, 1801. 
They next took refuge in Prussia, and for a while lived there in undisturbed 
retirement. Louis XVIII. subsequently passed into Sweden, whence, on 
the 22nd of December, 1804, he issued his protest against Napoleon's as- 
sumption of the imperial dignity. On the breaking out of the war between 



1814.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 395 

Russia and France, in 1805, he retired to his former residence at Mittau ; 
but the peace of Tilsit, which again subjected Russia to the influence of 
France, compelled him to abandon that asylum, and he embarked with the 
royal family on board the Swedish frigate Fraya, and reached Yarmouth 
in the middle of August, 1807. He resided in England as a private indi- 
vidual, and largely participated in the hospitalities which her nobles and 
people have ever bestowed on greatness in misfortune. 

iNiotwithstanding the unwarlike disposition of the Bourbon princes, the 
time at length arrived when it was no longer possible for them to remain 
in retirement. The approach of the allied armies to the Rhine, the pas- 
sage of that river by so large a body of their troops, and the establish- 
ment of Wellington in the southern departments of France, not only revived 
the dormant flame of loyalty in the French provinces, but called for the 
appearance of one or more princes of the blood to concentrate the isolated 
efforts of their adherents and assert the pretensions of the exiled family to 
the throne. When the allied armies invaded France, therefore, Louis 
XVIII. addressed a proclamation to the Senate, calling on them to coop- 
erate with him in overturning the tyranny of Napoleon; at the same 
time, he addressed, and caused to be widely and secretly circulated, a 
letter to all persons in authority who were thought to be favorable to his 
views ; in which document he wisely said little of honor and loyalty, but 
dwelt at length on injuries to be forgotten, and on titles, dignities and 
offices to be preserved. The British government was requested to permit 
the Bourbon princes to join the allied armies; and the cabinet of St. 
James, after much deliberation, proceeding from a desire to do nothing 
which might seem like coercing the French people into a choice of rulers, 
granted the request, but restricted the service of the princes to that of vol- 
unteers. The Count d'Artois accordingly left his residence at Holyrood 
House, and landed at Rotterdam on the 2nd of February ; the Duke d'An- 
gouleme embarked for Spain, to join the army of Wellington ; and the Duke 
de Berri set sail for Jersey, to aid an anticipated insurrection in Brittany 
and La Vendee. 

At this juncture, the allied monarchs entered Troyes and, for the first 
time, were brought in contact with the royalists of France. The Em- 
peror xAlexander had a special interview with several of these gentlemen, 
who box'e on their breasts the cross of St. Louis and the white cockade, 
although the wearing of these emblems was prohibited in the Empire under 
penalty of death. The Marquis of Widranges and M. Goualt were the 
speakers on the occasion : " We entreat your majesty," said they, " in 
the name of all vhe respectable inhabitants of Troyes, to regard with favor 
our desire for the reestablishment of the Bourbons on the throne." " Gen- 
tlemen," replied Alexander, "I receive you with pleasure; I wish well 
to your cause ; but I fear your proceedings are premature. The chances 
of war are uncertain, and I should be much grieved to see brave men like 
you either compromised or sacrificed. We do not come here to force a king 
upon France, but to learn her wishes and leave her to declare her inten- 
tions." "But she can never make such declaration," said the marquis, 
"so long as the knife is at her throat; nor, while Bonaparte retains his 
authority, will Europe ever be tranquil." " For that very reason," an- 
swered Alexander, " it must be our care first of all to beat him." Alex- 
ander's prudent council soon proved but too prophetic ; on the day this 
conversation took place,. Napoleon defeated the allies at Champaubert, and 



396 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLV. 

the Marquis of Widranges, disappointed in his hopes of obtaining from 
the several monarchs a declaration in favor of the Bourbons, proceeded to 
Bale and joined the Count d'Artois ; but M. Goualt rashly remained at 
Troyes, and not long after fell a victim to Napoleon's vengeance. 

On the 11th of February, Schwartzenberg, having allowed his troops a 
few days' repose around Troyes, put his columns in motion to follow up 
the enemy. The Prince of Wirtemberg took Sens by assault, after a 
sharp conflict, and on the same day General Hardegg, with the vanguard 
of Wrede's corps, attacked the French rear-guard near Romilly, drove its 
commander. General Bourmont, into Nogent, and the next day stormed 
that place. Having learned from the prisoners taken in these conflicts 
that Napoleon, with the main body of his forces, had diverged towai^d Se- 
zanne, in the direction of Blucher's forces, Schwartzenberg, on the 13th, 
ordered the corps of Colloredo and the Prince of Wirtemberg to cross the 
Seine at Bray and Point-sur-Seine and move upon Provins and Montereau. 
These movements were followed by a series of victories on the side of the 
allies. Moret fell into their hands on the 14th; Platoiftook Nemours on 
the 15th ; Seslavin made himself master of Montargis, and pushed his ad- 
vanced posts to the gates of Orleans ; and the Cossacks occupied the palace 
and forest at Fontainebleau. Auxerre was next carried by assault; and 
the allied light troops inundated the plains between the Seine and the 
Loire ; Montereau was fortified, and Schwartzenberg advanced his head- 
quarters to Nogent. The inhabitants of Paris were now in the great- 
est consternation : the retreating columns of Victor were within a few 
miles of its gates ; the peasants of La Brie, flying to the capital, reported 
that hordes of uncouth and long-bearded savages were cutting down the 
trees by the roadside, roasting oxen and sheep whole with the wood thus 
obtained, and devouring the meat while it was half raw ; and rumor, mag- 
nifying the danger, announced that two hundred thousand Tartars and 
Kalmucks were coming to sack and lay waste the metropolis. 

At this crisis, Napoleon interposed with his Guards, which body had 
been recnforced by a powerful detachment from the veterans of Soult's 
army ; and, joining these troops with the corps of Victor and Oudinot, 
mustered fifty-five thousand men to check the advance of the allies. He 
immediately assumed the offensive. Oudinot, supported by Kellermann's 
dragoons, pressed the columns of Wittgenstein, now retiring toward No- 
gent ; Macdonald marched in the direction of Bray ; Gerard drove the Ba- 
varians back on Villeneuve, Le Comte and Donne Marie ; and Victor 
hastened to Montereau to take possession of its bridge over the Seine. Count 
Pahlen, who commanded Wittgenstein's advanced guard — which division 
now became, by the countermarch, the rear-guard of the corps — ^was di- 
rected to make a stand against the French Emperor at Mormant ; and he, 
with great bravery, endeavored to do so: but the numbers of the enemy 
completely overwhelmed him, and not only his own detachment, but also a 
body sent by Wittgenstein to reenforce him, was utterly destroyed. Vic- 
tor, in the meantime, pushed on to Montereaw and attacked the allies ; but 
the exhaustion of his men, owing to their constant marching for some days 
past, prevented his gaining any decided success, and he failed in his prin- 
cipal object, the securing of the bridge. The allies immediately after- 
ward withdrew their force, amounting to eighteen thousand men, into the 
town of Montereau and the castle of Surville. 

Napoleon approached Montereau in great strength on the 18th, and at 



1814.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 397 

once attacked the allied position. The Prince of Wirtemberg and Bianchi 
maintained their ground, during a greater part of the day, against every 
effort of the French troops; but at length, overpowered by numbers, they 
were forced to retreat in the direction of Sens, with a loss of five thousand 
men, six guns and four standards: the French loss was three thousand 
killed and wounded. On the 19th, Napoleon moved from Montereau to 
Nogent ; and, after remaining there some days to refresh and rest his 
men, he marched to Troyes and offered battle to Schwartzenbcrg. Their 
late defeats, however, had materially depressed the courage of the allies ; 
and, after a long debate in a council of war, in which Alexander strenu- 
ously urged the policy of a general action, they resolved to evacuate 
Troyes and retreat. This was done accordingly on the 23rd, and the 
French troops immediately took possession of the town. 

It has already been mentioned, that in reply to the proposals of the 
allies, transmitted by the Count de St. Aignan, Napoleon had professed a 
readiness to treat for peace, and that Chatillon was eventually chosen as 
the place for conducting the negotiations: this place was therefore de- 
clared neutral ground, and the congress commenced its session on the 4th 
of February. Its members consisted of Lord Castlereagh, Lord Aberdeen, 
Lord Cathcart and Sir Charles Stewart, on the part of Great Britain; 
Count Razumoffski, on the part of Russia; Count Stadion, for Austria; 
and Baron Humboldt, for Prussia. Caulaincourt singly sustained the one- 
rous duty of upholding, against such an array of talent and energy, the 
declining fortunes of Napoleon. But, though both parties professed an 
anxious desire for an accommodation, their views were so dissimilar, that 
it was easy to foresee the congress would only deliberate, while the 
sword, at last, must decide the points in dispute : and this became the 
more evident, as each party made the terms it proposed dependent on the 
aspect of military affairs, which was constantly changing. 

Great Britain, however, made no demands liable to be affected bv the 
fluctuations of the war. Her purpose throughout the whole contest had 
been, not to force an unpopular dynasty on the French people ; not to 
wrest provinces or cities from France ; not to require from that country 
indemnification for her enormous expenses during the war : but simply 
to provide security for the future; to establish a barrier against the revo- 
lutionary propagandism and military violence of the French ; and to 
compel their rulers and armies, whether Republican or Imperial, to retire 
within their own territories, and relieve foreign nations from the disturb- 
ance of their principles and the encroachments of their power. For the 
attainment of her objects. Great Britain had uniformly maintained that 
no security was so desirable, because none was so likely to be effectual, 
as the restoration of the former line of princes, with whom repose was 
possible, and to v.'hom conquest was not, according to Napoleon's maxim, 
" necessary to existence :" still, she had never regarded nor proposed that 
condition as an indispensable preliminary to an accommodation. 

The mstructions of Lord Castlereagh from the British cabinet contained 
no projects for the partition of France, as that monarchy existed in 1789, 
but the most ample provisions for the establishment of barriers aijainst 
her future irruptions into Europe. The reduction of France to her an- 
cient limits ; the forming of a federative union in Germany, which miwht 
secure equal protection to all its states ; the recognition of the Swiss 
Confederacy under the guaranty of the great powers; the restoration to 



398 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLV. 

independence of the lesser states of Italy ; the reinstatement under their 
legitimate monarchs of SjDain and Portugal ; and the restitution of Hol- 
land to separate sovereignty, under the family of the Stadtholders, with 
such an addition of territory as might enable them to maintain their dig- 
nities — these were the instructions of the British cabinet, so far as France 
was implicated; and in these the allied powers concurred. For her own 
especial security, Great Britain further insisted, that in the general ad- 
justment of affairs, no discussion should be admitted derogatory to British 
maritime rightSj^as settled by existing treaties and the law of nations; 
and that, in the event of any new boundaries, being deemed advisable for 
the frontiers of France, they should not include Antwerp, Genoa, or Pied- 
mont. 

Two points — the restoration of the Bourbons and the destiny of Poland 
— were purposely left undecided by the English cabinet in their instruc- 
tions to Lord Castlereagh ; and this was done, not because their impor- 
tance was overlooked or falsely estimated, but because their solution was 
involved in such difficulty, and depended so entirely on contingencies, 
that no directions, previously given, could with any certainty prove ap- 
plicable to the possible progress of events. 

The first success of the allies, and the retreat of the French from 
Troyes, greatly modified Napoleon's views in reference to the congress 
that had just opened. Alarmed for the safety of his capital, and aware 
of the concord subsisting between the plenipotentiaries at Chatillon, he 
at length gave Caulaincourtthe full powers which that minister had long 
solicited, and authorized him to sign anything that might seem necessary 
to avoid the risk of a battle, and save Paris from being taken. This 
concession was with great difficulty obtained from the Emperor, and the 
manner in which it occurred is worthy of remembrance. Cauiaincourt 
had represented to Napoleon by letter, on the 31st of January, the im- 
portance of receiving precise and positive instructions : " the fate of 
France," he wrote, " may depend on a peace or an armistice, to be 
concluded within four days ; I must therefore have entire power to act 
in the emergency." When this letter was read, Maret entreated the 
Emperor to yield to necessity, and grant the authority so urgently de- 
manded. Napoleon, instead of replying, opened a volume of Montes- 
quieu, and read the following passage : " I know of nothing more 
magnanimous than the resolution of a monarch of our own times, (Louis 
XIV.) to bury himself under the ruins of his throne, rather than accept 
conditions unworthy of a king. He had a mind too lofty to descend 
lower than his fortunes had sunk him ; and he well knew, that though 
courao-e may strengthen a crown, infamy never can." Maret rejoined, 
that nothing could be more magnanimous than to sacrifice even glory to 
the safety of the state, which would otherwise fall with its monarch. 
" Well, be it so !" said the Emperor, after a pause: " let Cauiaincourt 
sicfn whatever is necessary to obtain peace : I will bear the shame of it, 
but I will not dictate my own disgrace." 

The allied powers were unanimous in the terms that they proposed to 
France ; and, after the preliminary formalities had been adjusted, they, 
on the 7th of February, fully set forth their views in a joint diplomatic 
note, to this efl^ect : " Considering the situation of Europe in respect to 
France, the allied plenipotentiaries have orders to demand, that France 
shall be restricted to her limits as they existed before the Revolution, 



1814.1 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 399 

excepting such subordinate arrangements as may be necessary for mu- 
tual convenience, and the restitution which England is ready to make 
for such concession : as a consequence of this, Fra;cemust renounce all 
direct influence beyond the future limits of Germany, Italy and Swit- 
zerland." 

The congress was now, to all appearance, on the eve of accomplishing 
a general peace. But at this time, the Emperor Alexander forwarded a 
letter to the plenipotentiaries, requesting a suspension of their sittings for 
a few days, till he could have an opportunity of a further concert with his 
allies, on the terms to be demanded. The congress was therefore ad- 
journed to the 17th of February ; and when it was again convened, events 
had taken place which rendered accommodation impossible. Napoleon 
no sooner ascertained the determination of the allies to separate their 
forces, and move in detached masses toward Paris, than he retracted his 
concessions to Caulaincourt, and resolved to trust everything to the 
hazard of war. 

Nor did Napoleon stop here. During his previous alarm, he had writ- 
ten to Eugene Beauharnois, that the state of his affairs had reached a 
crisis which forced him to disregard all minor considerations, and as the 
struggle was evidently to be decided on the soil of France, Eugene must 
instantly cross the Alps with all his disposable forces, and hasten to the 
vital point on the banks of the Seine. This order, worthy of Napoleon's 
genius, and in strict conformity to his system of war, would have brought 
forty thousand veterans on the rear of the Austrian grand army at the 
most critical period of the campaign. But the triumph over Blucher 
restored the Emperor's confidence in his returning fortune to such a de- 
gree, that the night following the battle of Montmirail he wrote to Eugene, 
countermanding the order to march, and assuring him that he was him- 
self adequate to the protection of France. Nay, he was so far misled 
by his sanguine temperament, that he entertained anew a project for Ger- 
man conquest, and openly said to those around him, " I am nearer to Vi- 
enna than the allies are to Paris." Thus, his success restored the rigid 
and unbending tone of his character, revived his scheme of universal 
dominion, and caused him to reject the throne of Old France proffered 
by the allies. 

The change in the diplomatic language of Caulaincourt, adopted in 
obedience to the Emperor's instructions, produced a decided effect on the 
deliberations of the allied powers. The exulting expression of Napo- 
leon, that he was nearer to Vienna than they were to Paris, had not been 
lost on them ; and Lord Castlereagh, in particular, made great efforts to 
convince the Austrian ministers that their country would inevitably be the 
first object of the French Emperor's wrath, should his victorious legions 
again cross the Rhine. The Emperor Alexander supported the same views, 
and manfully combated the despondency then so prevalent at the allied 
head-quarters. Metternich, too, brought forward similar arguments; for 
Napoleon's late success had awakened all his former apprehensions, and 
lie feared more for Vienna than for Marie Louise, and was desirous to 
prove the sincerity of his imperial master, in pressing the great objects 
of the alliance. The result of their combined efforts was the treaty of 
Chaumont, completed on the 1st of March. 

By this instrument it was stipulated that, in case of Napoleon's refusing 
the terms proposed, the four allied powers, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and 



400 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLV. 

Eiifjland, should each maintain one hundred and fifty thousand men in 
the field ; that, to provide for their maintenance, Great Britain should 
pay an annual subsidy of five millions sterling, to be equally divided be- 
tween the three Continental powers, besides maintaining her own contingent 
from her own i-esources. It was further agreed, that if any one of the 
allied sovereigns were attacked, each of the others should forthwith send 
to his assistance sixty thousand men, including ten thousand cavalry ; 
that the trophies of the war should be equally divided ; that no peace 
should be made but by common consent ; that this treaty should continue 
in force for iioenty years ; and that it might be renewed on the expiration 
of that period. Besides these public stipulations, several secret articles 
were inserted in the treaty providing for the interests of Germany, Italy, 
Spain, Portugal, and Holland, as already related in the terms offered to 
Napoleon by the congress. 

The conclusion of this treaty was a virtual dissolution of the congress 
of Chatillon, as it superseded the deliberations of that body. Never- 
theless, the congress continued to sit for three weeks longer, the allied 
plenipotentiaries firmly insisting on the relinquishment by France of all 
its conquests since the Revolution; and Caulaincourt constantly shifting 
his ground and endeavoring to elude conditions so rigorous. It was not, 
however, of his own choice, that Caulaincourt insisted on Napoleon's 
terms ; for he clearly saw the Emperor's risk in thus tenaciously retain- 
ing the frontier of the Rhine, and he urgently represented to his sovereign 
the necessity of bending to the force of circumstances, and accepting the 
monarchy of Louis XIV. as the price of a general pacification. But 
Napoleon was inexorable, and the war recommenced with renewed activity. 

Previous to the completion of the treaty of Chaumont, and while the 
negotiations relating to it were in progress, Blucher had pressed on nearly 
to Meaux, in the direction of Paris : and Napoleon, justly alarmed for the 
safety of his capital, set out from Troyes on the 27th of February, to 
intercept the Prussian marshal's advance. On the morning of the 28th, 
a detachment of Blucher's light troops, under Sacken, took possession of 
that part of Meaux which is situated on the left bank of the Marne : but 
while Blucher was making preparations to cross the river, he learned 
that Napoleon was threatening his rear ; he therefore immediately drew 
off his troops and moved toward Soissons, in order to unite with Winzin- 
gerode and Woronzoff", and give battle to the Emperor. 

As soon as Schwartzenberg learned that Napoleon had departed from 
Troyes, he resolved to resume the offensive on the great road leading 
from that town to Chaumont. With this view, he caused the corps of 
Wrede and Wittgenstein, mustering thirty-five thousand men, to be drawn 
up opposite Bar-sur-Aube. Oudinot, who commanded at that place, could 
not bring more than seventeen thousand men into the field ; so that he 
was outnumbered by nearly two to one : yet the strength of his position 
atoned for this disadvantage. The action that ensued was contested with 
great obstinacy on both sides ; it ended, however, in the defeat of Oudi- 
not, who retreated in good order, after sustaining a loss of three thousand 
men. The allies lost two thousand, but they gained Bar-sur-Aube, and 
— what was of far more importance — obtained a victory that restored the 
credit and spirit of the soldiers. 

Schwartzenberg did not follow up his success with sufficient vigor, and 
he therefore gaveOudinot time to form a junction with Macdon'ald at La 



1814.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 401 

Guillotiere ; the French forces, thus united, amounted to thirty-five thou- 
sand men. On the 2nd of March, the allies again advanced, and Schvvartz- 
enberg, having reconnoitered the French position, resolved to make an 
attack simultaneously on Macdonald's front and flank ; a plan of assault 
which his preponderating numbers rendered feasible. At three o'clock 
on the 3rd, the signal was given by the discharge of two guns from 
Wrede's corps, and the battle commenced. As soon as Macdonald per- 
ceived that both his flanks were turned by the allies, he ordei'ed his 
whole force to fall back on Troyes, and made no further effort to main- 
tain the action than was necessary to secure his retreat. He lost, how- 
ever, two thousand men and nine pieces of cannon. Early on the 4th, 
he continued his retreat, evacuating Troyes, which was immediately oc- 
cupied l?y the allies. 

Blucher, meantime, had crossed the Marne and made all haste toward 
Soissons, to avoid Napoleon's pursuit; and although, by destroying the 
bridge in his rear, he greatly delayed the movements of the French 
troops, yet he had serious difficulties to encounter ere he could effect a 
junction with Bulow and Winzingerode. These generals were on the 
opposite side of the Aisne ; and his only means of communication with 
them was a wooden bridge thrown over that river at Soissons, a fortified 
town in possession of the French. Blucher therefore had apparently no 
power to join his lieutenants, before he would be overtaken by Napoleon. 

In this dilemma, the Prussian marshal was delivered from his danger 
in a manner so unexpected, that it almost partook of the character of ro- 
mance. Bulow and Winzingerode, aware of the imminent peril of Blu- 
cher unless the town and bridge of Soissons could be taken, resolved on 
a desperate attempt to carry both by storm : but, previous to commencing 
the assault, they sent Colonel Lowernstown to treat with the garrison for 
a capitulation. The wily colonel, after considerable difficulty, gained an 
interview with the governor of the place, and so wrought upon the fears 
of that officer as to persuade him to surrendei", on condition of being 
allowed to withdraw his garrison and artillery ; and, on the 3rd of March, 
without the firing of a shot, the allies took possession of Soissons. Blu- 
cher could scarcely realize his good fortune; while Napoleon, who had 
relied on making an easy capture of the veteran marshal and his corps, 
was so transported with wrath, that he ordered the governor to be deliv- 
ered to a military commission. Blucher's escape was indeed sufficiently 
marvellous ; for his rear-guai'd had scarcely passed the gates of Soissons, 
when Marmont and Mortier came in great force upon the ground he had 
just abandoned ; so that he must inevitably have been destroyed, but for 
the opportune surrender of the fortress that had barred his retreat. 

The army of Silesia, after the junction of its several corps, ceased to 
retreat, and Blucher took up a strong position communicating with Sois- 
sons. Napoleon, however, still resolved to strike a severe blow in this 
quarter, and by great exertions he accomplished the passage of the Aisne 
at Berry-au-Bac, on the 5th of March. He thence hastened toward the 
ground occupied by the allies. Blucher's forces were thus divided: 
Bulow, with his entire corps, held the town of Laon ; the plateau of Craon, 
a strip of table-land flanked by woods and precipices, was guarded by 
Winzingerode's infantry under Woronzow and Strogonoff; Winzingerode 
himself, with ten thousand cavalry and sixty pieces of horse-artillery, 
was ordered to fall by cross-roads on the French flank ; D'York took post 



402 lilSTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLV. 

on the highway between Soissons and Laon, to act as a reserve, and suc- 
cor any point where aid might be requisite; and Rudzewitch, with six 
thousand men of Langeron's corps, undertook the defence of Soissons. 

The action commenced by an attack on the last mentioned place, and 
was maintained with great obstinacy on both sides ; but the French with- 
drew toward evening, without making any serious impression on the for- 
tress. Disappointed in this result, Napoleon, ihe next day, ordered an 
assault on Craon. The Russian force on this plateau amounted to twenty- 
seven tliousand men ; while the troops directed against them, under Ney, 
Victor, Naiisouty, and Napoleon in person, were not less than forty thou- 
sand strong. Tiie battle began at nine o'clock in the morning, the 
columns of Victor taking the lead, and both delivering and receiving a 
terrible discharge of artillery. That general after a time was repulsed 
with great loss ; but Ney soon arrived to support him, and they renewed 
the contest with temporary success : for, although they gained a footing 
on the height, Woronzow drove them back again at the point of the bay- 
onet. At length, the Russian ammunition began to fail; and Blucher, 
disappointed at the non-appearance of Winzingerode on the French flank, 
gave orders for a general retreat toward Laon. 

This movement was undertaken at two o'clock in the afternoon. Wo- 
ronzow formed his men with admirable steadiness, although they were 
enduring the fire of a hundred French cannon, and directed the retreat in 
ordinary time by alternate squares, placing the artillery at the angles, and 
the dismounted guns, with such of the wounded as could be moved, in 
front of the march. Napoleon made the most desperate effort? to disorder 
the allied squares, by bringing forward all his guns and ordering repeated 
charges of his heavy cavalry ; but nothing could break the array of those 
admirable troops. They moved firmly along to the extremity of the pla- 
teau, and there rapidly took up a new position capable of permanent de- 
fence and singularly adapted to the operations of artillery. The ground 
was flanked on either side by perpendicular and inaccessible rocks ; and 
its area rose in the rear by a gradual slope, so that the cannon could be 
placed in tiers, one above another, like the upper and lower decks of a 
man-of-war. Everything being in readiness, the infantry marched on till 
they came abreast of the first tier of guns, when they faced about, and 
dressed in a line with the muzzles of the pieces, while the cavalry defiled 
to the right and left behind the frowning batteries. The French troops 
were greatly astonished, when the screen of the Russian cavalry was 
withdrawn, to behold this formidable array; yet ihey moved on to the 
attack with determined bravery. The Imperial Guard led the charge ; 
but the moment they came within range of the hostile guns, a storm of 
round shot, grape and grenades swept down the heads of their columns, 
and the Russian fire was so well directed and so admirably sustained, 
that not one living man could cross the fatal line. This terrible cannon- 
ade lasted but twenty minutes, when the French withdrew from a position 
which they found to be impregnable. Soon after, Woronzow, having 
gained time for his cavali-y, carriages, and wounded men to reach the 
great road from Soissons in his rear, fell back, united himself to the gar- 
rison of that fortress, and the whole moved on to the environs of Laon. 
Napoleon, in this action won only the field of battle ; no trophies remained 
to either party : while the loss of men killed and wounded, was six thou- 
sand on the side of the allies, and eight thousand on that of the French. 



1814.1 HISTORYOFEUROPE. 408 

On the following day, Blucher collected around Laon his entire force, 
amounting to a hundred and nine thousand men ; and Napoleon came up 
to renew the battle, with fifty-two thousand of his choicest troops. Laon, 
though a town of great antiquity, is of small extent, containing but seven 
thousand inhabitants. It stands on the flat summit of a conical hill, three- 
quarters of a mile in breadth, and elevated nearly two hundred and fifty 
feet above the adjacent plain. It is surrounded with old, irregular walls 
and towers, which stand on the edge of the hill, and make the circuit by 
following its sinuosities. Gardens, orchards and meadows cover the sides 
of this truncated cone, and the roads leading to the town ascend the long 
acclivity by a gentle slope. The houses at its foot, fronting the adjacent 
highways and villages, were at this time loopholed and filled with mus- 
keteers ; a himdred pieces of cannon crowned the ramparts on the sum- 
mit ; and numerous other batteries were posted on the commanding 
eminences around. The allied army lay on the slopes and in the neigh- 
boring villages, having the town for a vast redoubt in its centre, and 
extending its wings far into the plain on either side. Winzingerode's 
corps, drawn up in two lines near Aven, composed the right ; Bulow 
occupied the hill of Laon, the villages of Sermilly and Ardon, and the 
abbey of St. Vincent in the centre ; while Kleist and D'York, with the 
left, extended from Laon to Chantry along the road leading to Rheims. 
Sacken and Langeron, whose men had suffered so severely in the prece- 
ding combats, were in reserve behind Laon. The French troops, being 
fewer in number, were more concentrated. Marmont was ordered to 
advance by the road from Rheims, and form the right ; Mortier, with the 
Guards and the reserve cavalry, under Grouchy and Nansouty, were in 
the centre, opposite Laon; and Ney, between that place and Sermilly, 
commanded the left. 

These dispositions were completed on the evening of the 8th of March, 
and during the 9th, several partial actions took place ; but Napoleon 
would not venture on a general battle until Marmont came up. That 
marshal had commenced his march early in the morning of the 9th, from 
Berry-au-Bac, and, at one in the afternoon, he issued from the defile of 
Fetieux, driving before him the Prussian videttes. Blucher clearly per- 
ceived, from the vivacity of the attack, that the principal effort of the 
French would be made in this quarter ; and that the partial attacks which 
had already taken place on the centre, were intended only to divert his 
attention, while Napoleon turned his flank and cut off his communica- 
tions. Blucher therefore, vvith equal decision and ability, resolved to 
retaliate this movement, by a night attack on Marmont ; who, unsupported 
by Napoleon, and unsuspicious of any such manoeuvre, lay greatly ex- 
posed in his bivouacs. 

The Prussians advanced in perfect silence, at the dead of night, upon 
the sleeping army ; and, so complete was the surprise, so universal the 
consternation, the French merely fired one round of grape and then dis- 
persed — each one flying, in the darkness, wherever chance or his fears 
directed. In this atTair Marmont lost forty pieces of cannon, a hundred 
and thirty-one caissons, and two thousand five hundred men taken pris- 
oners ; the number of killed and wounded was inconsiderable, owing to 
the rapidity of the flight ; but the corps was totally dispersed, and disa- 
bled from taking any active part in military operations until it could be 
reorganized. The loss of the allies did not amount to three hundred 
men. 



404 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLV 

Napoleon, anticipating a general battle that day, was drawing on his 
boots at four o'clock on the morning of the 10th, when two dismounted 
dragoons were brought to him. They informed him that they had es- 
caped, as by a miracle, from a nocturnal assault on the bivouacs of Mar- 
mont ; that the marshal was either killed or made prisoner, and that all 
was lost in that quarter. This disaster placed the French Emperor in a 
serious dilemma. He could not venture to attack an army so greatly 
superior to his own as Blucher's, nor was it easy to see how a retreat 
from the victorious allies could be accomplished. He therefore adopted 
the wisest course within his reach, namely : a resolution to remain for a 
short time on the defensive, and deceive the allies by a display of great 
force in front, in order to intimidate them from attacking him, and at the 
same time cause them to withdraw from the pursuit of Marmont. This 
plan completely succeeded. Blucher had given orders to Bulow and 
Winzingerode, to follow the anticipated retreat of Napoleon's main body; 
but perceiving that the French stood firm, and were apparently intent 
on a pitched battle, he countermanded these orders, and directed the 
movements against Marmont to be stopped. At nine o'clock in the morn- 
ing, the more effectually to cover his designs, Napoleon ordered a general 
attack on the allied position, which was maintained with great spirit for 
some hours ; and in the meantime his park of artillery, their baggage and 
camp equippage, began to defile in the rear toward Soissons. At four 
o'clock, the Frenchtroops fell back in good order ; but they kept up a 
cannonade during their retreat until nightfall, and from the summit of 
the ramparts of Laon the march of the retiring columns could be traced 
by the light of burning villages, which the French soldiers themselves set 
on fire in the reckless fury occasioned by defeat. 

On the night of the 10th, the Emperor slept at Chavignon, and on thfe" 
11th, the army continued its march to the defiles in front of Soissons. 
This fortress, which had fallen into the hands of the French when Rud- 
zewitch evacuated it on his retreat to Laon, ofTered the same secure retreat 
to the French, that it had formerly done to the allied army. 

General St. Priest, who commanded a corps of Russians, and formed 
part of the reserve of the army of Silesia, had been left at Chalons to 
maintain the communication between Blucher and Schwartzenberg ; and, 
having learned, during the concentration of the French troops around 
Laon," that a great part of the garrison of Rheims had been withdrawn 
by Napoleon, he resolved to attack that town. The attempt was made 
accordingly, on the 12th of March, and succeeded perfectly, the garrison 
oifering hut little resistance. As, however, the possession of this town 
drew the points of communication between the allied commanders much 
more closely together, and especially as it brought a powerful body of 
tfoops on his right flank, Napoleon determined to recapture the place, 
which he reached by a forced march on the 13th. St. Priest at first at- 
tempted to defend his position, under a belief that only a small part of 
Napoleon's forces was approaching ; but when he perceived that the en- 
tire French army was upon him, he made every effort to escape ; this, 
however, he did not accomplish until he had lost thirty-five hundred men, 
and himself received a mortal wound. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 

A FEW days of military inaction now ensued, which enabled the leaders 
of the belligerent parties to grant a welcome repose to their troops, and 
put them into a more efficient state for taking the field. This interval 
gives an opportunity to review the state of Napoleon's affairs in other 
parts of his Empire. 

After the expulsion of the French army from Holland, in December, 
1813, the tri-color flag waved only on Bergen-op-Zoom, Bois-le-Due, 
Gorcum, and some lesser forts ; the main strength of the French force in 
that quarter being concentrated at Antwerp. To deceive the allies, at 
least by the sound of military preparation, the Emperor, on the 21st of 
December, ordered the formation of an army of fifty-five battalions, and 
conferred the command on Count Maison. But this force, like most others 
of which JN^apoleon had direction at that period, was formidable only on 
paper : and when Maison reached Antwerp, he could not muster more 
than twenty thousand men for the defence of all the Low Countries ; and 
he saw ai once that, so far from thinking of the re-conquest of Holland, 
ho could barely provide for the protection of Flanders, which was now 
threatened on its maritime frontier by the British, and on the side of the 
Meuse, by the Russians and Prussians. He therefore disposed a part of 
his troops around Antwerp and Bergen-op-Zoom, and made every possible 
preparation for sustaining a siege in both places. 

Early in January, 1814, a British division six thousand strong, under 
Sir Thomas Graham, landed in South Beveland : and that officer, having 
concerted measures with Bulow, commenced, with him, a forward move- 
ment on the 10th. On the 13th, the combined forces came into commu- 
nication at Merxhem, and they easily drove the French detachment which 
occupied that village into Antwerp. Twelve days later, Bulow made a 
successful attack on Bois-le-Duc, which was taken by escalade with its 
garrison of six hundred men. He then turned his whole strength against 
Maison, who thereupon abandoned Antwerp to its own resources, threw a 
garrison of a thousand men into Malines, and himself took post at Lou- 
vain. On the 29th, Bulow moved upon Antwerp, and completely invested 
it ; not with a view to breach and storm its ramparts, to which the small 
battering-train now at his disposal was wholly inadequate, but to bombard 
the town, and destroy the fleet constructing in its harbor by Napoleon. 
At this crisis, Carnot, who had lived in retirement since the fall of Robes- 
pierre, and declined all Napoleon's offers of preferment, came forward 
with patriotic devotion, and tendered his services to his sovereign. The 
Emperor, appreciating Carnot's motives and abilities, immediately ap- 
pointed him governor of Antwerp. The bombardment commenced on the 
2nd of February ; but the precautions taken by the garrison, rendered it 
for tlie most part ineffectual, and it was discontinued after three days of 
constant firing. At the same time, Bulow received orders to raise the 
siege and ma.vch with his corps into France, where, as already related, 
he united himself to Blucher's army. The British troops, not being in 



406 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLVl. 

sufficient force to maintain themselves in front of Antwerp, withdrew to 
their former cantonment between that city and Bergen-op-Zoom ; and 
Carnot, acting strictly on defensive principles, and reserving his strength 
for ulterior operations, made no attempt to disquiet them in their retreat. 

But, although Bulow had passed into France, and the British withdrew 
to the frontiers of Holland, the deluge of allied troops flowed without in- 
termission over Flanders. Wave succeeded wave, as in those days when 
the long- restrained might of the northern nations found vent in the decay- 
ing provinces of the Roman Empire. The Prince of Saxe- Weimar, 
reeinforced to the amount of seventeen thousand men, kept the field ; 
Brussels was soon evacuated ; and Maison, who had retired to Tournay, 
was observed by the allies, from their head-quarters at Ath. Gorcum 
surrendered on the 4th of February ; and its blockading force, under the 
Prussian general Zielenski, was united to the army of the Prince of Saxe- 
Weimar, who now marched against Maison, and pursued him to Man- 
henge. Nothing further of moment occurred until the 8th of March ; 
when the prince attacked Maison. and drove him under the cannon of 
Lille. 

The operations in Italy, at the same period, were of considerable im- 
portance. Toward the end of December, 1813, Eugene Beauharnois 
retired to the line of the Adige, which he occupied with thirty-six thou- 
sand combatants. The Austrians opposed to him, under Bellegarde, were 
more than fifty thousand strong, exclusive of the detached corps of Mar- 
shall, who observed Venice and Palma-Nuova, in his rear. This dispro- 
portion of numbers had already induced Eugene to make arrangements 
for a retreat ; and this became the more necessary when, on the 19th of 
January, 1814, Murat's proclamation against Napoleon was promulged. 
Eugene accordingly fell back behind the'Mincio on the 3rd of February, 
his right resting on Mantua, and his left on Peschiera : while the pur- 
suing Austrians took post on an opposite line, extending from Rivoli to the 
neighborhood of Mantua. 

Eugene's position was exceedingly strong in front, and he might easily 
have resisted Bellegarde in that direction ; but the movements of Murat 
on his rear rendered it impossible for him to maintain his ground; and, 
the better to effect a retreat, he resolved on the bold, and yet, under the 
circumstances, judicious measure of giving battle to the Austrians, in the 
hope of forcing them across the Adige, ere Murat could arrive to assail 
him. Bellegarde had, at the same time, planned an offensive movement : 
the two armies therefore simultaneously moved to the attack, on the 8th 
of February, and they were mutually surprised on their march ; but 
Eugene turned that circumstance to the best account, as he made pris- 
oners of fifteen hundred Austrians in the action, while the killed and 
wounded on each side were equal, amounting in all to six thousand men. 
On the 9th, Eugene, well satisfied to have thus secured a retreat, con- 
tinued his retrograde march across the Mincio. 

But, while success was thus nearly balanced in this quarter, serious 
disasters attended Napoleon's cause elsewhere in the Italian Peninsula. 
The castle of Verona surrendered to the Austrians on the 14th of Feb- 
ruary ; Ancona, after a siege of twenty-five days, and a bombardment 
of eiglit-and-forty hours, capitulated to Murat's forces on the 16th; and 
the native Italian troops in Eugene's service, despairing of final victory, 
and unable to endure the fatigues and hardships of a winter's campaign, 



1814.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 407 

deserted In great numbers ; so that the viceroy, unable to maintain his 
position on the Mincio, drew nearer to the Po, and brought forward all his 
reserves from the Milanese states. Not long after, the citadels of Pisa, 
Lucca and Leghorn, were surrendered to the allies, on condition that the 
garrisons of Volterra, Civita-Vecchia, Florence, and the Castle of St. 
Angglo, should be transported to France. 

Augereau was at this period seriously engaged in operations, both de- 
fensive and offensive, in the vicinity of Lyons. A number of partial 
actions had there taken place, but without decisive results, during the 
month of February and a part of March ; but on the 20th of the latter 
month, the allies concentrated themselves in great force around Lyons; 
and, although Augereau made desperate efforts to defend the town, he 
was at length totally defeated, and evacuated it at midnight, taking the 
road to Valence, in order to gain the line of the Isere. On the 21st, the 
allied standards waved over the ramparts of the second city in the French 
Empire. 

A considerable respite followed the operations of Wellington and Soult 
in the neighborhood of Bayonne ; but, early in February, Wellington, 
having received powerful reenforcements and completed his preparations 
for an offensive campaign, determined to effect the passage of the Adour. 
For this purpose, he collected at the mouth of the river forty large sailing 
boats, professedly for the commissariat, but in fact laden with planks and 
other materials for building a bridge from that point to the fortress. To 
conceal his design, he resolved at the same time to threaten Soult's left 
with Hill's corps, while Beresford, with the main body, menaced his 
centre. By this means, should the allied left, under Hope, succeed in 
passing the river, Wellington expected to cut Soult off from Bordeaux, 
and drive him toward the Upper Garonne. The troops of Hill and 
Beresford were accordingly put in motion on the 14th of February, and 
they, vigorously following up the plan of attack, pressed day after day 
on the fortified posts of the French marshal, until they forced him to con- 
centrate his troops at Sauveterre. Nevertheless, his attention was not 
entirely withdrawn from the Lower Adour ; and when, on the morning of 
the 23rd, the allies attempted to cross the river, they found a considerable 
body of French soldiers at hand to oppose them. The superior number 
and resolution of the allies, however, overcame all obstacles, and before 
sunrise on the 24th, their entire left wing was established on the opposite 
bank. Two days afterward, Hope commenced and effected the invest- 
ment of Bayonne. 

Meantime, Wellington, taking command in person of his centre and 
right, pursued his career of victory on the Gave d'Oleron. The pontoons 
arrived on the 23rd, and he made immediate preparations for crossing that 
river, behind which Sojilt was posted with thirty-five thousand men, cov- 
ering the bridge of Sauveterre. Early on the 24th, Hill crossed with 
three divisions at Villenave, and 'Beresford passed over near Montfort with 
the entire centre. Soult, now deeming his position at Sauveterre unten- 
able, fell back to Orthes, abandoning Bayonne to its fate. He drew up 
his army on the summit of a semicircular ridge, facing the southwest, 
and extending from the neighborhood of Orthes on the left, to the heights 
of St. Boes on the right. 

Wellington approached in three columns, consisting of thirty-seven 
thousand men of all arms. Beresford, with the allied left, commenced 



408 HIST OR Y OF EUROP E. [Chap, XLVI. 

the action at daybreak, on the •27th, by turnhig Soult's riglit near St. 
Boes, and gaining beyond the village the road to Dax. Picton advanced 
along the great road to Orthes against the French centre ; and Hill led 
the allied right against the enemy's left. There was an interval of a 
mile in breadth between Beresford's and Picton's columns, and in the 
centre of this space a conical hill rose nearly to the height of Soult's posi- 
tion : here, Wellington took his station with his staff, having the whole 
field spread out before him like a map. Beresford, after gaining and 
overlapping the extreme French right, made a vigorous attack in front 
and flank on the village of St. Boes. A violent combat ensued. Reille's 
men stood firm ; St. Boes was strongly occupied, and the nfusketry rang 
loud and long on the summit of the ridge before a foot of ground was won 
by tlie assailants. At length, however, British valor prevailed, and the 
village was carried at the point of the bayonet. The victors pursued the 
retreating French along the ridge, but liere Reille made a determined 
stand, and the allies suffered great loss in their inefiectual efforts to dis- 
lodge him. While the combat was raging on the French right, Welling- 
ton hastened forward Picton's attack on the centre ; and this was so 
admirably maintained, that the French rapidly gave way; when Soult, 
finding that Hill was making dangerous progress on his left, ordered a 
retreat. In this battle, the French loss amounted to four thousand men 
and six guns ; that of the allies, to something less than twenty-five hun- 
dred. Soult, after allowing his troops a few hours of repose on the banks 
of the Luy-de-Bearn, continued his route toward Tarbes and Toulouse, 
while Wellington pushed on to Bordeaux. 

The inhabitants of Bordeaux, who throughout the Revolution had been 
distinguished for their moderate, or royalist principles, were thrown into 
the greatest state of excitement by the advance of the allied army into the 
south of France, which promised to relieve them from the iron yoke of 
Napoleon ; and their enthusiasm reached its climax when the battle of 
Orthes opened the road to their city for the victorious army. The royal- 
ist committee, which had existed in that city for nearly a twelve-month, 
and comprised a large number of the most respectable and influential 
citizens, made great efforts to improve the present favorable aspect of 
aftairs. They unfolded their designs to M. Lynch, the mayor of the city, 
who warmly approved their views, and avowed his desire to proclaim 
Louis XVIII. The Marquis de Larochejaquelein was soon dispatched to 
Wellington's head-quarters, to request the aid of three thousand men in 
support'' of the royal cause. Wellington, however, wisely judging that 
a small British force should not be hazarded on so momentous and distant 
an enterprise, and appreciating the value of the movement about to take 
place, scut twelve thousand men, instead of three thousand, under the 
command of Lord Beresford. But as the allied powers were at that time 
still negotiating at Chatillon, and as peace might on any day be concluded, 
he was°careful to inform the inhabitants of the chances of such an event; 
and he distinctly warned them, that in case they declared in favor of Louis 
XVllL, and peace were afterward made with Napoleon, it would not be 
in the power of the British government to afford them protection. 

Beresford set forward on the 8th of March, and on the 12th reached 
Bordeaux. The mayor and civic authorities came out to meet him, at a 
short distance from the suburbs, and the former delivered an address, in 
which he expressed the joy felt by the people at their liberation from 



1814.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 409 

slavery. His speech was frequently interrupted with cries of" a has les 
aigles !" " vivent les Bourbons !" and at its close he removed his tri- 
color scarf, with the Imperial eagles and the badge of the legion of honor, 
and in their stead mounted the white cockade. His attendants immedi- 
ately followed his example ; enthusiastic cheers rent the sky ; and the 
British troops, surrounded by an immense multitude of people, entered 
the ancient capital of their Plantagenet ancestors, to reestablish the throne 
of the royal race with whom they had for so many centuries been engaged 
in hostilities. The Duke d'Angouleme arrived, soon after, at Bordeaux, 
and was received with universal acclamation. 

Wellington's next offensive movement, was the pursuit and attack of 
Soult, who had withdrawn to Toulouse and there taken up a strong posi- 
tion. The battle that ensued, was one of the most obstinately contested 
in the whole war; but it ended in the defeat of Soult and the occupation 
of Toulouse by the allied forces. 

In the midst of these accumulated disasters, Napoleon, though yet re- 
maining at Rheims, turned his attention toward Paris. The accounts 
from that capital were indeed alarming. The grand army of Schwartzen- 
berg was at length gradually but steadily approaching ; Troyes had been 
reoccupied, the passage of the Seine at Nogent forced, the light cavalry 
again appeared at Fontainebleau, and the entire army might reach Paris 
within five days. These events naturally caused great commotion among 
the inhabitants of the metropolis. The proximity of a powerful enemy, 
the absence of Napoleon, the fall of Lyons, the occupation of Bordeaux, 
and the proclaiming, by the people in the south, of Louis XVIIL, had 
excited the utmost consternation among the Imperial functionaries, and 
awakened the wildest hopes of the Royalists. 

After deliberately estimating the dangers that surrounded him, Napo- 
leon resolved to march against Schwartzenberg. To guard against the 
consequences of a surprise while engaged in this expedition, he forwarded 
secret orders to Joseph, on the IGth of March, directing him to send the 
Empress and the King of Rome across the Loire, should Paris be menaced 
by the allies. On the 17th, leaving Marmont and Mortier, with twenty 
thousand men, to make head against Blucher, he himself set out with the 
remainder of his army to join Macdonald and Oudinot. 

Napoleon made his first halt at Epernay, and the worthy inhabitants 
emptied their cellars to refresh his ti'oops. On the 18th, he continued his 
march toward Aube, and on the 19th, he effected the junction with his 
marshals, which raised his force to fifty-five thousand men. The next 
day he directed his steps toward Arcis, expecting to surprise Schwartzen- 
berg by a flank attack ; but that general had on the same day adopted a 
similar line of advance, and while Napoleon approached Arcis on the 
right bank of the Aube, the allied army, though a little further removed, 
was coming up to the same point on the left. As Napoleon found that an 
action \yas now inevitable, though he could not commence it at advantage, 
as he anticipated, he took up a strong position on the left bank of the river 
and awaited the appi'oach of the enemy. His army occupied a semicir- 
cular line, facing outward, each flank resting on the Aube, so that it could 
not be turned, while in the rear the town of Arcis offered a secure refuge 
in case of defeat. The allies disposed themselves in a much larger semi- 
circle, facing inward : VVrede commanded the ris-ht, the Russian Guards 
and reserves under Barclay formed the centre, and Raieffsky and Giulay 



410 HI3T0RY0FEUR0PE. [Chap. XLVI. 

had direction of the left. These dispositions were not completed until 
late in the day ; and although the battle commenced immediately there- 
after, it was rather a cannonade than a general action, and at ten o'clock 
at night both parties retired to rest on the field. 

At daybreak on the 21st, the opposing armies were drawn up in order 
of battle. It was an awful, yet animating sight, when the rising sun 
glittered on the low swelling hills that surround the town of Arcis. A 
hundred and fifty thousand men were there silently gazing at each other, 
without moving from the ground on which they were placed. The in- 
fantrjr stood at ease, but with their muskets at their shoulders ; the cav- 
alry were for the most part dismounted, but every bridle hung over the 
horseman's arm ; a word from either commander would instantly have 
brought orf the shock of arms. Yet that word was not spoken. Hour 
after hour passed on, until the long suspense became almost unendurable. 
At length, toward one o'clock in the afternoon, the French equipages 
were seen defiling to the rear, and decided symptoms of a retreat became 
manifest. No movement could be more hazardous than such an one, un- 
der such circumstances; yet, so great was the respect inspired by the 
presence of Napoleon, and by the imposing array of his highly disci- 
plined troops, Schwartzenberg did not give the signal for attack until 
three o'clock. 

The allies then advanced rapidly from all points, preceded by a hun- 
dred pieces of cannon, and their fire fell with destructive effect on the 
retiring masses of the French army. Had Schwartzenberg commenced 
his attack earlier in the day, he must have gained a decisive victory ; 
but his delay lefl him nothing to combat but the Emperor's rear-guard ; 
and Macdonald maintained such a gallant defence with this corps, that 
niglit came on before the allies reached Arcis. The French destroyed 
the bridge behind them, so that Schwartzenberg could not follow in pur- 
suit ; and when the morning dawned, Napoleon, with the main body of 
his troops, was far advanced on the road to Vitry. 

The battle of Arcis-sur-Aube was not accompanied by any brilliant 
trophies taken in the field, yet it was followed by results fatal to the cause 
of Napoleon. The loss of the French amounted to four thousand men, 
and six pieces of cannon ; the loss of the allies was nearly as great, but 
their victory, by defeating the plans of Napoleon, led to his overthrow. 
He had intended to attack the r-ear of the allied army, and by this ma- 
noeuvre so far intimidate Schwartzenberg, as to induce him to fall back 
from Paris to defend his communications ; and, considering the Austrian 
general's sensitiveness on the subject of flank and rear attacks — no mat- 
ter how insignificant the party that mode them — the design of the French 
Emperor was ably conceived, and evinced a just estimate of the enemy 
he had to contend with. But the simultaneous movement of the two 
armies essentially changed their i-elative situations, and, by bringing them 
prematurely together, defeated the object Napoleon had in view. Still, 
in the strait to which he was now reduced, he had no resource but to at- 
tempt anew the plan which had been foiled. To do this, however, re- 
quired an immense sacrifice, for it would be necessary to march directly 
toward the Rhine, and wholly abandon the defence of Paris; since his 
army uas now so reduced by defeat and discouragement that he could not 
divide without destroying it, and his success depended on his ability to 
withdraw and embody into his ranks the garrisons of the blockaded for- 



1814.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 411 

tresses in the rear of the allies. Therefore, on leaving Arcis, instead of 
taking the road to Chalons, whence he had advanced, or to Paris, whither 
he was expected to retire, he retreated along the chausscc of Vitry in the 
direction of the Rhine. 

He reached the environs of Vitry at the close of his first day's march, 
and summoned the town to surrender : but the governor, who had a gar- 
rison of four thousand men and forty pieces of cannon, resolved to stand 
the hazard 9f an assault, and refused to open his gates. This check was 
quite unexpected ; but, as Napoleon had no leisure to subdue hostile 
cities, he turned aside ; and continuing his route, reached St. Dizier on 
the 23rd, where he established his head-quarters for the night. Caulain- 
court joined him at this place, and informed him of the dissolution of the 
congress at Chatillon. This event, together with the hopelessness of the 
war and the seeming extravagance of the march toward the Rhine, com- 
pleted the discouragement of the officers. They could foresee no end to 
the campaign but defeat, nor any benefit to result from the continuance 
of their toil and the expenditure of their blood. Instead of defending 
Paris, they were hastening toward Germany: their capital, their country, 
their homes must necessarily become the prey of the invaders : and 
while everything dear to them was in jeopardy, they were plunging anew 
into a warfare which had neither an issue nor an object. A revolution 
was openly discussed, as a possible, perhaps a probable contingency ; the 
obstinacy of the Emperor in refusing the proposed terms of peace, was 
universally condemned, and many doubted his sanity. Every one asked, 
" Where is this to end ?" " Whither are we marching ?" " If he falls, 
shall we fall with him ?" 

The allies were greatly astonished when they learned the direction of 
Napoleon's march. A Cossack, who first brought the intelligence, was 
so confounded with his own news that he said, " the enemy is retreating, 
not on Paris, but on Moscow f It soon became evident that the French 
line of advance was decidedly taken, although Schwartzenberg, suspect- 
ing a stratagem, crossod the Arcis with the greater part of his ai^my and 
followed in pursuit. The next day, his light troops succeeded in captu- 
ring a detachment of French cavalry at Sommepuy, with twenty-three 
pieces of cannon; but, what was of far more importance than prisoners 
or artillery, the victors intercepted a packet of dispatches from the French 
headquarters which fully explained Napoleon's designs. 

These letters were immediately sent to the Emperor Alexander, who 
had scarcely finished reading them at a council of war held at Dampierrp, 
on the 23rd, when intelligence arrived that the army of Silesia had ad- 
vanced to Rheims and Epernay, and occupied Chalons. Thus, while 
Napoleon proposed to attack the communications of the allies and create 
a diversion to save Paris, Schwartzenberg and Blucher effected a junction 
in his rear, and a hundred and eighty thousand men stood between him 
and his capital. At the same time, news was received of the entry of 
the British troops into Bordeaux, and the proclamation of Louis XVIII., 
with the general concurrence of the inhabitants. This combination of 
events led to a unanimous decision on the part of the allied sovereigns, to 
march directly upon Paris ; and they commenced that movement on the 
25th of March. Schwartzenberg and Blucher had designated Fere- 
"Champenoise as a common rendezvous, and the advanced guards of both 
armies came in sight of each other near Sonde St. Croix, at eight o'clock 



412 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLVI. 

in the morning of that day. Mortier and Marinont, who now lay between 
the allies and Paris, had in the meantime received orders from Napoleon 
to join him at Vitry ; but before they could accomplish this, Schwartzen- 
bei-g's movements placed the grand army across their path : so that when 
the allied commanders came into communication on the morning of the 
25th, the two marshals, who supposed that the allies were pursuing Na- 
poleon, unexpectedly found themselves in presence of the whole invading 
force. They therefore fell back in great haste toward Fere-Champe- 
noise, whither they were vigorously pursued by the enemy's light troops. 

The united corps of Marmont and Mortier amounted to twenty-two 
thousand men, and the allied troops which first overtook them consisted 
entirely of cavalry and artillery, about twenty thousand strong. The 
French defended themselves with desperate bravery against this onset, 
but nothing could resist the enthusiasm of the allies ; infantry, cavalry 
and artillery, were driven with great loss and in utter confusion through 
the town of Fere-Champenoise, on the other side of which, under cover 
of night, they at length rallied and re-formed their broken ranks. While 
this action was in progress, the centre of the allied grand army encoun- 
tered on its march a considerable body of French troops under General 
Pacthod, who, with a park of artillery and a large quantity of provisions, 
was hastening toward Vitry. The Emperor Alexander took command in 
person of a detachment of chosen troops, and charged Pacthod 's corps 
with great impetuosity. The French general made a noble defence, but 
the superior numbers of the allies enabled them to capture the entire 
convoy. In these two actions, the French lost seven thousand prisoners 
and nearly five thousand men killed and wounded, besides eighty guns, 
two hundred ammunition wagons, and all the supplies of provision destined 
for Napoleon's army ; while the loss of the allies did not exceed twenty- 
five hundred men. 

At four o'clock in the morning of the 26th, the grand army marched 
by the road through Sezanne toward Paris, now but sixty-five miles dis- 
tant; and Blucher advanced to the same point by Montmirail and La 
Ferte-Gaucher. Napoleon was in the vicinity of St. Dizier, on the 27tb, 
when he received intelligence that the allies, far from being disturbed at his 
manoeuvres on their rear, were pushing forward upon his capital. The 
veil now dropped from his eyes : " Nothing," said he, " but a thunderbolt 
can save us !" and immediately concentrating his troops, he hastened 
toward Paris by the route of Doulevant, Vassy, Troyes, Sens and Fon- 
tainebleau. 

Meanwhile, the allies entered a rich champaign country, adorned with 
villas, woods, orchards, and smiling fields — all the charming indications 
of long established prosperity : it therefore not only abounded with sup- 
plies for the use of the troops, but offered almost irresistible temptations 
to the accustomed violence and marauding of a conquering army. These 
results were the more to be dreaded from a host consisting of the soldiers 
of six different nations, part of whom were men of lawless and savage 
habits, and all, smarting under the recollection of unendurable wrongs. 
To guard against such excess, Alexander issued a proclamation enjoining 
die strictestdiscipline, and foi bidding the Russians to obtain any supplies 
but through the intervention of the mayors and local authorities. Not 
satisfied with this, he with his own hand addressed a circular to the com- 
manders of corps belonging to the other countries, earnestly requesting 



1814.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 413 

them to adopt similar measures. The effect of this wise and humane 
policy was speedily apparent, and the inhabitants, instead of flying before 
the allied columns, soon came to regard them without fear, and furnished 
whatever was requisite to their subsistence. 

At length, the allied columns approached Paris by the forest of Bondy, 
and the sovereigns who accompanied the march, ascended an eminence on 
i,he roadside to the left. The sun had just set, a cool breeze refreshed 
the air, and not a cloud was visible in the sky. On the right, lay the 
buildings of Montmartre, and beyond them the stately edifices of Paris 
burst upon the view. 

In tlie midst of the general consternation that now pervaded the French 
capital, the Council of State was summoned to deliberate on the grave 
question, whether the Empress and the King of Rome should remain in 
Paris to await the issue of its contemplated defence, or be conveyed to a 
place of safety beyond the Loire. The minister at war, Clarke, briefly 
unfolded the military condition of the city: he estimated the forces of the 
allies at a hundred and fifty thousand men, and declared that, with the 
means of resistance at his disposal, he could not answer for the safety of 
the Imperial family. The matter was debated at some length, and finally 
the council decided, by a vote of nineteen to four, that the Empress and 
her son should be installed in the Hotel de Ville, and an appeal made to 
the people for their protection in that last asylum. When this result was 
announced, Joseph produced the letter from Napoleon, dated a fortnight 
previous at Rheims, ordering that his wife and son should not, under any 
circumstances, be allowed to fall into the hands of the allies ; and that if 
their armies approached Paris, the Empress and King of Rome should be 
removed to the other side of the Loii'e. This order superseded the vote 
of the Council and closed its deliberations; and it was subsequently ar- 
ranged, that Joseph should remain to direct the defence of the capital, 
while the principal officers of state accompanied the Empress in her 
retreat. 

The departure of Marie Louise, on the 29th of March, completed the 
disco.uragement of the inhabitants. A great crowd assembled at the 
Place du Carrousel, when the carriages drove up to the gates at day- 
break ; and, although none ventured to arraign the orders of the govern- 
ment, many denunciations were uttered privately against a line of policy 
which virtually abandoned the capital to the enemy, by withdrawing those 
whoso presence was best calculated to preserve authority, and stimulate 
resistance. The King of Rome, though but three years of age, cried 
violently when the attendants came to remove him: he declared that they 
were betraying his papa ; and he clung to the curtains of his apartment 
with such tenacity, that all the influence of his governess, Madame de 
Montesquieu, was requisite to make him quit his hold. He was still in 
tears when taken to the carriage. Marie Louise was calm, but deadly 
pale. The mournful procession moved off at eleven o'clock, and took the 
road to Rambouiliet. 

Paris is situated on both banks of the river Seine, and its location is as 
well adapted to external defence as to internal ornament and salubrity. 
From Mount Valerius on the west, to the fortress of Vincennes on the 
east, it is protected by a chain of hills running along the northern bank 
of the Seine, and presenting a natural fortification on the north and east: 
Clichy, Romainville, Belleville, Chaumont and Montmartre are the name* 



414 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLVI. 

affixed to this ridge ; and although at that time it was not strengthened by 
field-works, it constituted a formidable line of defence. The plain of St. 
Denis, between Montmartre and Romainville, extends to the gates of the 
capital ; but this was so guarded by batteries, as to be entirely inaccessi- 
ble until the adjoining summits were carried. The defence of the town, 
however, depended on the possession of the heights. The stranger, on 
his first arrival at Paris, is most struck with the extraordinary beauty and 
variety of its public buildings. The long -established greatness of the 
French sovereigns, the taste for architecture which several of them pos- 
sessed, and the durable materials of which the capital is built; have con- 
spired, through a succession of ages, to store it with edifices which are 
not only imposing in themselves, but are in a high degree interesting from 
the picture they present of the changes of manners, habits and taste, 
during the existence of the monarchy. From the stately remains of the 
baths of Julian — now devoted to the humble purpose of a cooper's shop 
in the Faubourg St. Germain — to the magnificent structures projected by 
Napoleon, and completed by the Bourbons, Paris exhibits an unbroken 
series of buildings, still entire, erected in the course of fifteen centuries, 
connecting together the ancient and modern world ; and forming, like 
Gibbon's History, a bridge that spans the dark gulf of the Middle Ages. 
The towers of Notre Dame, rising in the austerity of Gothic taste, and 
loaded with the riches of Catholic superstition ; the Hotel de Ville, 
recalling by its florid architecture the civil wars of the Fronde and the 
League ; the Marais, with its stately edifices, carrying us back to the 
early splendor of the Bourbons ; the Louvre, bringing to remembrance 
the frightful massacre of St. Bartholomew ; the Pont-Neuf, bearing the 
image of Henri IV.; the Tuileries, breathing at once of the splendor of 
Louis XIV., and the sufferings of his martyred descendant; the Place 
Louis XV., where the orgies of royalty were succeeded by the horrors 
of Revolution ; the column of the Place Vendome, which perpetuates the 
glories of Napoleon — these form, together, a ftiass of monuments une- 
qualled in interest by any other city of modern Europe, and in the vievr 
of a future age may even exceed the attractions of the Eternal City. All 
Paris is historical ; the shadows of the dead arise on every side, and the 
very stones seem to speak. The streets in the old part of the town are 
narrow ; but this, combined with their straightness, renders them the more 
striking, as their buildings are always seen in rapid perspective ; and the 
old stone piles, five stories in height, and contemporary with the Crusades, 
seem to frown in contempt on the modern passenger. On the banks of 
the river, a wider space is discovered : light arches span the rapid stream, 
and long lines of pillared scenery attest the riches and taste of a more 
refined epoch. 

The troops at the disposal of Joseph were entirely inadequate to the de- 
fence of Paris. The National Guard, indeed, mustered thirty thousand 
men; but not more than half of them were armed, and a considerable 
portion of those were occupied at the several barriers of the city, so that 
not more than five thousand could be available for the external fortifica- 
tions. In addition to these troops, the garrison consisted of the broken 
remnants of fifteen divisions, reduced by the campaigns of two years to 
twenty-six thousand men : they were supported by a hundred and twenty 
pieces of cannon, fifty-*hree of which were in position, and some of them 
manned by the youths of the Polytechnic School. Marmont commanded 



1814.J HISTORY OF EUROPE. 415 

the right of this force, which rested on Belleville and Chaumont, with 
detachments reaching to Vincennes ; and Movtier took direction of the 
left, extending between the canal of Ourcq and Montmartre across the 
great road from St. Denis, with posts as far as Neuilly. Of the allies, a 
hundred thousand men were in line, ready to take part in the attack ; the 
remainder having been left on the Marne, at Trilpost, and at Meaux, to 
guard the communications and observe the movements of Napoleon. 

At two o'clock in the morning of the 30th of March, the g^n^rale was 
beaten in all quarters of Paris, summoning the National Guard to assem- 
ble at their different points of rendezvous ; and the call was obeyed with 
a promptitude that foretold, at least, a brave struggle for victory. At 
five o'clock, the anxious troops on watch at the heights of Romainville, 
discovered several dark masses beyond Pmitin, on the road from Meaux. 
As yet, not a gun had been fired on either side. The level glance of the 
sun illuminated the quiet slopes of Romainville, and the dome of the In- 
valides began to flash in the effulgence of his earliest rays. Suddenly, 
the discharge of artillery was heard on the right ; the dark masses be- 
came edged with fire : and soon, the roar of several hundred pieces of 
cannon announced to the terrified inhabitants, that the last day of the 
Revolution had come. 

The firing of musketry commenced, at six o'clock, on that part of the 
allied line led by Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg, whose division issued 
from Pantin, while Raieffsky moved straight upon Romainville. Marmont, 
who had already seen his error in not occupying these villages the even- 
ing before, was marching to take possession of them with Beyer's division 
of the Young Guard, when he met Prince Eugene's Russians near Pan- 
tin. A furious conflict ensued; and so long as the opposite forces were 
equally matched, neither gained any perceptible advantage. But Mor- 
tier, finding that his position was not assailed, sent two divisions to Mar- 
mont's aid, and the Russians were driven back into the villages. At this 
juncture, Raieffsky reached his designated point and commenced an as- 
sault on the left. His infantry carried Montreuil and his cavalry pushed 
on to Charron, nearly in the rear of the Young Guard at Romainville. 
It was now eight o'clock, and the Emperor Alexander, who had just ar- 
rived at the scene of action, learned with dismay that Blucher's troops 
had not yet come up to their post at Montmartre ; that the Prince Royal 
of Wirtemberg and Giulay were still far behind; and that Raieffsky was 
overmatched. He immediately ordered Barclay to bring forward the 
grenadiers and the Russian and Prussian Guard. 

Prince Eugene now, in turn, had the advantage; and, as the French 
batteries on the heights prevented his forward movement, he sent G<^nera] 
Mesenzoffto unite with Raieffsky and carry the guns. These forces ac- 
cordingly made a spirited assault on the wooded hills of Romainville, and 
drove the French back to the heights in the rear of Belleville. At the 
same time. Count Pahlen, with a body of dra.goons, approachod the Bar- 
riere du' Trone, and captured twenty pieces of cannon served by the 
Polytechnic scholars. Barclay now ordered the attack in the centre to 
be suspended until the arrival of Blucher on the right, and Giulay and 
the Prince Royal of Wirtemberg on the left. At eleven o'clock, the 
army of Silesia approached, and moved against Marmont at La Villette: 
the French marshal defended his ground for four hours, but was at last 
compelled to retire. The Prince Royal did not reach his position on the 



416 HIS TORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLVI. 

left until near one o'clock ; but he then atoned for the slowness of his 
march by the vigor of his onset. He occupied the wood of Vincennes, 
blockaded the castle, stormed the bridge of St. Maur, and drove the 
French troops in that quarter to Charenton. 

The entire allied force being now in communication, a general advance 
along the whole 'line took place ; and the great numerical superiority of 
the assailants rendered the charge irresistible. 

When .Joseph perceived that the day was lost, he authorized the mar- 
shals to enter into a caphulation, the terms of which were the immediate 
surrender of Paris, and the evacuation of all the fortified posts around its 
gates. A perfect silence succeeded the loud roar of artillery, while the 
conditions of surrender were discussed : from the banks of the Marne 
to those of the Seine, the allies rested on their arms in a semicircular 
line six miles long ; masses of cavalry filled the plain ; and three hun- 
dred pieces of cannon were ready to pour their destructive thunder on 
the capital. Suddenly, a brief and isolated struggle commenced anew 
on the heights of Montmartre ; the position was carried at a single charge ; 
and eighty-four guns were instantly planted there and brought to bear on 
the town. " So, father Paris, you must pay now for mother Moscow !" 
exclaimed a Russian artilleryman, with the medal of 1812 on his breast, 
as he brandished the linstock over his piece. But a suspension of arms 
was agreed upon ; a white flag waved from the summit of Montmartre, the 
soldiers stacked their arms, and the bands of all the regiments, advan- 
cing to the elevated points around the capitalj made the air reeclio with 
the sounds of martial music. 

In the meantime. Napoleon was hastening toward his capital. On 
the 29th, the Imperial Guard arrived at Troyes, having marched more 
than forty miles in that single day. After a few hours of rest, the Em- 
peror threw himself into his travelling carriage, and, as the wearied cui- 
rassiers could no longer keep pace with him, he set out alone for Paris. 
The most, disastrous intelligence reached him every time he changed 
horses. He learned, successively, that the Empress and his son had 
quitted Paris; that the allies were fighting on its heights, and that they 
had reached its gates. His impatience was now redoubled. He left his 
carriage for a post caliclie to accelerate his speed ; and, while the horses 
were going at a gallop, he urged the postillions to drive faster. The steeds 
flew like the wind ; the wheels of the vehicle took fire in rolling over the 
pavement, and yet he was dissatisfied. He reached Fromenteau, five 
leagues from Paris, at ten o'clock in the evening; and while charging 
horses at the post-house, he overheard some straggling soldiers conmient- 
ing on the capitulation of Paris. "These men are mad!" said he, im- 
petuously; "the thing is impossible; bring me an officer." General 
Beillard came up at the moment and related the details of the catastro- 
phe. Large drops of perspiration stood on the Emperor's forehead ; and 
he turned to Caulaincourt, saying, with a fixed gaze that made the minis- 
ter shudder, " Do you hear that !" 

Berthier now approached, and Napoleon remarked that it was time to 
start for Paris. " Caulaincourt," said he, " order the carriage." Then, 
unable to restrain his anxiety, he set out on foot, accompanied by Cau- 
laincourt and Berthier, speaking incessantly as he hurried on, without 
waiting for their answers, or seeming to be conscious of their presence. 
" I burned the wheels of my carriage," he said ; " my horses were as 



1814.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 417 

swift as the wind ; but still I felt oppressed with an intolerable weight. 
I asked them to hold out for only twenty-four hours. Miserable wretches 
that they are ! Marmont, too, who swore that he would be hewn in pieces 
rather than surrender ! And Joseph ran off — my own brother ! To sur- 
render my capital to the enemy ! What poltroons ! They had my orders. 
They knew that on the 2nd of April I would be here with seventy thousand 
men. My brave scholars, my National Guard, who promised to defend 
my son — every man with a heart in his bosom, would have combated on 
my side ! And so, they have capitulated ! betrayed their country — their 
brother — their sovereign — and degraded France in the eyes of Europe ! 
Entered into a capital of eight hundred thousand souls without firino- a 
shot ! It is too dreadful ! This comes of trusting cowards and fools. 
When I am not with them, they do nothing but blunder. What has been 
done with the artillery ? They should have had two hundred pieces and 
ammunition for a month. Every one has lost his wits ; and yet Joseph 
imagines he can lead an army ; and Clarke is vain enough to think him- 
self a statesman ; but I begin to believe Savary is right in pronouncing 
him a traitor. Set off, Caulaincourt ! Fly to the allied lines ! Pene- 
trate to head-quarters ! You have full powers — fly ! fly !" He then in- 
sisted on advancing with the cavalry, which had already evacuated Paris: 
but on the reiterated assurances of Belliard, that the capitulation was 
concluded, and the capital in possession of an army a hundred and twenty 
thousand strong, he at length consented to return, rejoined the carriao-es 
which he had preceded more than a mile, and drove to Fontainebleau, 
where he arrived at six o'clock in the morning. 

The terms of the capitulation of Paris were for many hours the subject 
of eager discussion. The allies gave a ready consent to the demands of 
the French marshals, that Paris should be protected ; its private property 
held sacred, and its monuments intrusted to the care of the National 
Guard ; but a serious difference arose as to the surrender of the troops. 
It was finally agreed, however, that the marshals, with their corps, should 
quit Paris by seven o'clock the next morning ; that the public arsenals 
should be given up to the allies ; that the National Guard should, at the 
option of the victors, either be disbanded or aid the allies in the provis- 
ional government of the city ; that the wounded and stragglers found in 
or about the town after ten o'clock, should be considered prisoners of 
war ; and that Paris should be recommended to the generosity of the 
allied powers. 

While these negotiations were going on between the delegates of the 
hostile parties, the municipal magistrates of Paris repaired to the head- 
quarters of the allied sovereigns, to devise some plan for conducting the 
internal affairs of the capital. The Emperor Alexander received them in the 
most gracious manner. " Gentlemen," said he, " I am not the enemy of the 
French nation, but only of one man, whom I once admired and long loved : 
a man who, corrupted by ambition and bad faith, came into the heart of my 
dominions with fire and sword, and forced me to provide for my future 
safety by aiding in his overthrow. My colleagues and myself have come 
here, not to conquer or to rule France, but to discover and support what 
France herself deems most suitable for her own welfare. We now wait 
only to ascertain, in the declared wishes of Paris, the probable wishes of 
the kingdom." He then promised to take under his special charge the 
museums, monuments, and public institutions of the capital. On the 
O 



418 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLVI. 

request of the magistrates that the National Guard should be kept together, 
Alexander, turning to the chief of the staff, asked if he could rely on that 
civic force. The reply being in the affirmative, he rejoined, that he de- 
sired no other guarantee, and that he referred the details to General 
Sacken, whom he had appointed governor of Paris. 

Wlien it was currently known in the metropolis, on the 30th of March, 
that the capitulation was completed, the Royalists openly declared them- 
selves. M. Charles de Vauvineux stood up in the Place Louis XV., and 
read to a small assemblage of his partisans, a proclamation issued by 
Schwartzenberg on the preceding day ; and at its close, he mounted the 
white cockade, and shouted " vive le roi f" At first, only four men followed 
his example ; but these, nothing daunted, rode on horseback through the 
streets, repeating the old rallying-cry of France, and distributing white 
cockades to the people. 

Noonday arrived while things were in this state ; and, in conformity to 
a previous arrangement, the allied troops began to appear in the Faubourg 
San Martin, on their way to the capital. The Prussian cavalry of the 
Guard, preceded by some squadrons of Cossacks, came first ; then the 
Prussian light horse ; the Russian and Prussian infantry ; the Russian 
cuirassiers ; and the artillery of the whole army. When the superb 
array of the Russian household troops passed the barriers, one universal 
feeling of enthusiasm seized upon the multitude of spectators. Every 
window was crowded ; every roof covered ; and the throng in the streets 
became so dense that the troops had great difficulty in accomplishing their 
march. The Parisians, passing from the extreme of terror to that of 
gratitude, now gave vent in loud applauses to their astonishment and 
admiration : for Schwartzenberg's proclamation to them had already been 
placarded on every corner, and its conciliatory expressions were known and 
appreciated.' The grand object of the people's anxiety was to get a 
glimpse of the Emperor Alexander, to whom they ascribed their deliv- 
erance. When that monarch, with the King of Prussia on his right, and 
Schwartzenberg and Lord Cathcart on his left, reached the Porte St. 
Martin, the excitement of the multitude reached its climax. Shouts of 
'• Vive I'Empereur Alexandre !" '• Vive le Roi de Prussie !" " Vivent les 
Allies!" "Vivent nos Liberateurs !" burst forth from all sides; and the 
universal transport resembled the homage of a grateful people to a bene- 
ficent sovereign, rather than the reception by the vanquished of their 
conqueror, after a bloody and desperate war. 

At the close of the procession, Alexander alighted at the hotel of Tal- 
leyrand, where the leading members of the Senate, and the most distin- 
guished individuals of the capital, were assembled. On the side of the 
Royalists, were Baron Louis, the Abbe de Pradt, the Due de Dalberg, 
Bourrienne, and Beurnonville : these, with the King of Prussia, Prince 
Schwartzenberg, Prince Lichtenstein, Count Nesselrode, and the Count 
Pozzo di Borgo, with many others, composed this memorable assemblage. 

Alexander opened the discussion, by stating that one of three courses 
must be adopted by the allies : They must make peace with Napoleon, 
taking the necessary securities against its infringement ; establish a 
reo-ency ; or, recall the House of Bourbon. On these momentous ques- 
tions he requested the opinion of the personages present, averring, that the 
sole wish of the allied sovereigns was to consult the wishes of France, 
and to secure the peace of the world. Talleyrand immediately rose, and 



1814.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 419 

urged that the first and second of these projects were inadmissible, as there 
could be no peace in Europe while Napoleon, or any of his race were 
on the throne. He finished by saying, that the alternative was to 
adopt the third course proposed, which would be generally acceptable, 
and which alone offered a remedy for the evils in which the country was 
involved. The Abbe de Pradt and Baron Louis, on being asked for their 
opinions, avowed themselves Royalists, and added, that a great majority 
of the French people entertained the same sentiments. After some fur- 
ther discussion on this point, Alexander declared that he would no longer 
treat with Napoleon, nor with any member of his family. 

The die being thus cast, the next step was to announce the result to the 
inhabitants of Paris. This was accomplished by means of an address, in 
which the allied sovereigns proclaimed, that they would grant more favor- 
able terms to a wise and peaceful government, tlaan to one which required 
precautions against the devouring ambition of Napoleon ; that they would 
respect the integrity of France, such as she had been under her legiti- 
mate monarchs ; and that, wishing France to be great and powerful, they 
would guaranty any convention she might adopt. The address ended 
with a request to the Senate, to appoint a provisional government, and 
prepare a suitable Constitution for the people of France. Orders were 
at the same time sent to the police for the liberation of all persons con- 
fined for state offences. 

On the first of April, Talleyrand, m his capacity of Arch-chancellor 
of the Empire, convened the Senate in their usual hall of assembly. 
Only sixty-four of the one hundred and forty members, obeyed the sum- 
mons ; but among these were men of distinction, who had been active on 
the extreme side of almost every question throughout the phases of the 
Revolution. To the proceedings of that day are affixed the names of 
Destult, Tracy, Fontanes, Garat, the Abbe Gregoire, Lambrecht, Lan- 
juinais, the Abbe de Montesquieu, Roger Ducos, Serrurier, Soules, and 
the Due de Valmy. A provisional government was speedily and unani- 
mously established, consisting of Talleyrand, president. Count de Beur- 
nonville. Count de Jaucourt, the Due de Dalberg, and M. de Montesquieu. 
No mention was made of Napoleon, although these very proceedings 
were the most decided act of high treason to his authority ; nor of the 
Bourbons, though each measure adopted was a direct approach to their 
recognition. 

When everything was concluded, the Senate adjourned to wait upon 
the Emperor Alexander, who received them with great cordiality. In 
the course of his remarks to them, he said, " Your provisional govern- 
ment asks for the liberation of the French prisoners of war, confined in 
Russia. I grant this to the Senate. From the time these men fell into 
my hands, I have done what I could to soften the rigor of their lot ; and 
now, I will give orders for their release from captivity. May they 
rejoin their families in peace, and enjoy the tranquillity which the 
new order of things is fitted to induce !" These words secured the free- 
dom of a hundred and fifty thousand men; and such was the vengeance 
that Alexander took for the desolation of his dominions. Napoleon, when 
he became master of Berlin in 1806, said, " I will make the Prussian 
nobility so poor that they shall beg their bread." When he withdrew 
from Vienna, in 1809, he blew up the time-honored bastions of the capital ; 
and when he evacuated Moscow, in 1812, he gave orders for the destruc- 
tion of the Kremlin, the most noble edifice that had escaped the flames. 
02 



420 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLVI. 

On the 2nd of April, the Senate, by a solemn decree, dethroned the 
Emperor, and absolved the army and the people from their oaths of alle- 
giance. The legislative body, at a subsequent meeting of seventy-seven 
of its members, confirmed these acts of the Senate. Declarations of ac- 
quiescence in the decree, and of adhesion to the course of the government 
now came rapidly in from all points. The public bodies of Paris trans- 
mitted addresses filled with invectives against Napoleon, and as the news 
reached the provinces, it was quickly responded to by proclamations of 
the downfall of the tyrant, and the cordial approval by the people of the 
new order of things. Still, not a word was said by the constituted 
authorities concerning the return of the Bourbons. On the contrary, the 
persons appointed to fill the principal offices in the new government, were 
almost all drawn from the Republican party: and in this, Talleyrand 
showed his profound knowledge of human nature : he could gain the 
Republicans only through the medium of their interests, but he was sure 
of the Royalists from the force of their affections. 

The next important consideration was, to ascertain the temper of the 
French army ; for although its numbers were so greatly reduced, it might 
still, with Napoleon at its head, exert a powerful influence on the destinies 
of the nation. The matter was not long in suspense. The Moniteur of 
April 7th, contained an official correspondence between Schwartzenberg 
and Marmont, in which the latter declared his adhesion to the new gov- 
ernment, on condition that the life and personal freedom of the Emperor 
should be secured, and a fitting asylum provided for the defeated sove- 
reign, in some place to be designated by the allied powers ; and that such 
of the French troops as, in virtue of the present convention, might pass 
over to the allies, should be furnished with secure quarters in Normandy, 
These conditions were conceded, and Marmont's entire corps entered the 
allied lines, where they were received with acclamation. 

When intelligence of these proceedings reached Napoleon at Fontaine- 
bleau, he was greatly exasperated, and issued orders to the soldiers yet 
under his command to advance immediately on Paris : but his marshals, 
who had everything to lose, and nothing to gain by a renewal of hostilities, 
strongly opposed the movement, as desperate and unavailing against such 
a multitude of foes. Their representations and ai'guments finally pre- 
vailed, and the Emperor signed an abdication in favor of his son, and 
appointing Marie Louise as regent. He then sent Caulaincourt, with Ney 
and Macdonald, to Paris, to obtain from the conquerors their approval of this 
instrument. The efforts of these ambassadors,however, were unavailing : 
the allied powers unanimously decided that the sentence of dethronement 
pronounced by the Senate could not be disturbed, and they avowed their 
determination not to negotiate with Napoleon, nor with any of his family. 
Caulaincourt and Macdonald, finding it impossible to accomplish anything 
for their Emperor, returned to sympathize with his misfortunes ; but Ney 
was more flexible. As feeble and irresolute in political life, as he was 
bold and persevering in the battle-field, he with little hesitation joined the 
party of Talleyrand ; and his formal adhesion to the new government 
was promulged in the columns of the Moniteur. 

In truth, during the four days following the declaration of the allies 
that they would not treat with any member of the Napoleon dynasty, the 
cause of the Bourbons completely triumphed. The voice in their favor, 
which at first emanated from a few devoted adherents, had now swelled 



1814.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 421 

into a mighty shout, from nearly all the population of the capital. 
Nevertheless, the people were not all moved by a chivalrous feeling of 
loyalty, or an abstract repentance for the crimes of the Revolution — 
deliverance from evil w^as their prevalent and all-controlling desire. 

When Macdonald and Caulaincourt returned to Fontainebleau, and re- 
ported the refusal of the allies to negotiate with them. Napoleon gave vent 
to a violent burst of anger ; but, as on a previous occasion, his councillors 
gradually brought him to a cooler examination of his predicament, and 
at last prevailed on him to sign an unconditional surrender of the throne. 
This instrument was immediately transmitted to Paris, and a formal treaty 
between Napoleon and the allies was drawn up, and subscribed on the 
11th of April. Napoleon, by this treaty, renounced the Empire of France 
and the Kingdom of Italy, for himself and his descendants : but he was 
permittee? to retain the title of Emperor, and the titles of prince and prin- 
cess were conceded to his brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces. The 
island of Elba, selected by himself as his place of residence, was erected 
into a principality in his favor ; the Duchy of Parma and Placentia was 
secured to the Empress Marie Louise and her son, in full sovereignty. The 
sum of two and a half millions of francs was provided for the annual 
income of Napoleon, and two millions more were inscribed on the great 
book of France, to descend to his heirs after his decease. A million of 
francs, yearly, was also inscribed for the use of Josephine. The princes 
and princesses were allowed to retain all their movable estate ; but the 
furniture of the palace and the crown jewels were held for France. Fif- 
teen hundred of the Old Guard were to escort the Emperor to his place of 
embarkation ; and he was at liberty to take with him four hundred sol- 
diers for his body-guard. The Poles in the service of France were suf- 
fered to return to their own country, with their arms and baggage. The 
treaty bore the signatui'es of Caulaincourt, Macdonald, Ney, Metternich, 
Nesse*lrode, and Hardenberg. Lord Castlereagh, on the part of England, 
acceded to this treaty ; " but to be binding on his Britannic Majesty, 
only with respect to his own acts, not with respect to the acts of third 
parties." 

At noonday on the 20th of April, the Emperor took leave of his Old 
Guard, who were drawn up in the court of the palace, and he set out on his 
journey, accompanied by four commissioners on the part of the allies : 
General Koller, for Austria ; General SchonvalofT, for Russia ; Colonel 
Campbell, for England ; and Count Waldbourg-Truches for Prussia. He 
was received with respect and in some cases with enthusiasm, by the in- 
habitants on the route from Fontainebleau to Lyons ; but, after passing the 
latter city, he began to experience proofs of the fickleness of his subjects 
and of the general indignation produced by his oppressive government. 
At Valence, he saw the walls covered with a proclamation of Augereau, 
denouncing his reign and dynasty ; and although the troops were in array 
to receive him, they all wore the white cockade : at Orange, loud cries 
of " vive le roi !" " vive Bourbon !" greeted his ears ; and at Avignon, 
he found his statues thrown down from their pedestals. As he c^JUtinued 
his journey to the south, the general disaffection so increased tAat on more 
than one occasion his life was in danger. He reached Frejus on the 
27th ; and on the 28th, set sail for Elba on board the Fnglish frigate, the 
Undaunted. Captain Usher, the commander of that vessel, in conformity 
to the orders of the British government, received ifiim with the honors due 
03 



422 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLVI. 

to a crowned bead : a royal salute was fired when he entered the ship, 
the vaii€]s.\vea'e?It¥ianned, and the cheers of the crew rang a loud welcome 
to the (ktbT©iS&d:!80vereign, as he appeared on their quarter-deck. Napo- 
leon v/asiK)3bf^ted by this reception from his enemies, which presented 
such a siDgoId'F contrast to the treatment he had just experienced from 
his own subjects, that he burst into tears. During the voyage he as- 
sumed a cheerful and affable manner, conversed much with the captain 
and officers, and was very inquisitive concerning the details of English 
naval discipline. A slight shade passed over his countenance when the 
ship came within sight of the maritime Alps, the scene of his early tri- 
umph ; but he soon recovered his serenity, and before he arrived at Porto 
Ferrnjo, he had gained a strong hold on the affections of every man on 
board. 

Josephine did not long survive the fall of the hero, with whose^marvel- 
lous fortunes her own seemed to be mysteriously linked. Alexander was 
desirous to see and console her in her distress, and, at his request, she 
came to Malmaison to meet him. While there, she was attacked with a 
severe illness, which terminated her life on the 28th of May. 

Louis XVIII. left his peaceful retreat at Hartwell on the 20th of April, 
and proceeded to London, where he was received with numberless wel- 
comes and congratulations. After bestowing upon him every attention in 
the British capital, the Prince Regent accompanied him to Dover, whence 
he embarked for France on the 27th. The roar of artillery announced 
his departure, and the thunder of the English cannon had hardly ceased 
to reverberate, when the answering discharge of guns on the French 
coast from Calais to Boulogne, announced the arrival of the monarch in 
the kingdom of his forefathers. 

Louis reached Compeigne on the 29th ; and, the preparations for his 
reception at Paris being completed, he made a public entry into that me- 
tropolis by the gate of St. Denis, on the 3rd of May. The Du'chess 
d'Angouleme was seated at his side ; the Old Guard of Napoleon formed 
his escort ; the National Guard kept the streets free for the procession ; 
and immmerable officers and privates of the allied armies added, by their 
gay and varied uniforms, to the splendor of the scene. 

More important duties, however, than receiving and replying to con- 
gratulations, awaited the new monarch — the conclusion, namely, of a 
treaty with the allied powers, which should satisfy their just and inevi- 
table demands, and, at the same time, prove no stumbling-block to the 
establishment of his own authority, by concessions that might tend to 
injure him in the respect and affections of the people of France. By a 
convention already completed, on the 23rd of April, it had been provided 
that the French troops should evacuate all the fortresses and territories 
beyond the frontiers of France, as she existed prior to 1792 ; that the 
allied troops, with the least possible delay, should retire from the domin- 
ions of France thus designated ; and that all military exactions, on both 
sides., should instantly cease. In virtue of this compact, fifty-three for- 
tresses of note, twelve thousand pieces of cannon, with an incalculable 
quantity ol ammunition and military stores were surrendered by France. 

The treaty with Louis XVIIL signed at Paris on the 30th of May, by 
the plenipotentiaries of France on the one side, and of Great Britain, Rus- 
sia and Prussia on i\\e other, contained little that had not been foreseen 
after the details of the convention of April were made known. It stipu- 



1814.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 423 

lated that France should be reduced to her former limits, as they stood on 
the 1st of January, 1792, excepting the cession that had been made of 
various small territories — some, to France by the neighboring powers, 
and others by France to them — for mutual advantage, and for' the sake 
of defining more clearly the French frontier. Holland was to be an in- 
dependent state, under the sovereignty of the House of Orange, but with 
an accession of territory ; Germany was to be independent, but under the 
guarantee of a federal union ; Switzerland independent, governed by 
itself; and Italy, divided into sovereign states. The free navigation of 
the Rhine was expressly stipulated. Malta was ceded in perpetuity to 
Great Britain ; and that power agreed to restore to France and her allies 
all the colonies taken from them during the war, excepting the islands of 
Tobago and St. Lucie in the West, and the Isle of France in the East 
Indies. France was permitted to form commercial establishments in the 
East Indies, but under condition, that she should send thither no more 
troops than might be requisite for the purposes of police; and she re- 
gained the right of fishing on the Banks of Newfoundland, and in the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. The fleet of Antwerp, consisting of thirty-eight 
ships of the line and fifteen frigates, was to be divided between France 
and Holland, in the proportion of two-thirds to the former, and one-third 
to the latter country. All subordinate points and matters of detail were, 
by common consent, referred to a Congress of the great powers to assem- 
ble at Vienna in the autumn of that year. 

In this general settlement of Europe, after the Revolutionary deluge 
had subsided, the fate of Pius VII. must not be overlooked. When Paris 
capitulated, his holiness was still detained at Provence, and one of the 
first measures of the provisional government was, to liberate him and cause 
him to be conveyed to the Italian frontier with the honors due to his rank. 
On his arrival at Cesina, Murat waited upon him, and exhibited a memo- 
rial signed by a number of the nobles and chief inhabitants of Rome, and 
by them addressed to the allied powers, praying that the Roman States 
might be incorporated with one of the secular states of Italy. His holi- 
ness, without looking at the memorial to discover who had thus endeavored 
to despoil him of his possessions, generously threw it into the fire. When 
he arrived at his capital, some of the nobles who had affixed their signa- 
tures to this paper, overcome by his clemency, came to ask his forgive- 
ness. " Have we not some faults too, with which to reproach ourselves V 
replied the pontiff: " let us bury our injuries in oblivion." 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND THE NORTH OF EUROPE. 

The termination of tlie war excited a degree of enthusiastic joy in the 
British dominions, of which it is impossible to give an adequate descrip- 
tion. A large number of the inhabitants had come into existence since 
the commencement of the contest, and had inhaled with their earliest 
breath an ardent desire for its success. Those who were older, felt that 
whatever opinions they may have entertained at the outset, the fate and 
character of the British Empire had finally been staked on the throw, and 
that their own and their children's freedom depended on its result. The 
patriots now rejoiced in the victory of the allies, because it secured the 
glory and independence of their own country ; the partisans of the aris- 
tocracy, because it closed a gulf that threatened to swallow up all ancient 
institutions ; and the friends of liberty, because it had been achieved by 
the united efforts of the European people, and promised to establish free- 
dom in Franc©. The visit of the allied sovereigns to England, whither 
they repaired in the summer of 1814, excited these feelings to the highest 
pitch. All ranks, from the throne to the cottage, participated the general 
enthusiasm. In the anxiety and animation attendant on public events, 
the distresses and joys of private life were for a time forgotten : the senti- 
ments of the British nation resembled those of a crowded audience in a 
theatre, when the genius of the actor, leading the multitude beyond the 
barriers of individual restraint, draws from assembled thousands one 
unanimous and simultaneous burst of applause. 

After the first tumultuous excitement was past, the thoughtful observer, 
with the liveliest gratitude for the past and the most sanguine expectations 
for the future, pondered on the wonderful events of the war. There 
seemed to be a poetical justice in its result, an equity in the retribution 
which had overtaken the great and guilty nation, that demonstrated pecul- 
iarly the providence of God. The wildest anticipations were now in- 
dulged in England, as to the subsequent progress of liberty in France. 
" Deplorable," it was said, " as have been the excesses, bloodstained as 
were the hands of the first apostles of freedom in that country, their labors 
have not been in vain. A constitutional monarchy has at last been erected ; 
guarantees of liberty established ; her condition under the old monarchy, 
compared with the freedom she will enjoy under the Restoration, was 
slavery itself. The blood shed by Robespierre, however, was but for a 
season : the carnage of Napoleon has passed away : the glorious fabric 
of freedom has emerged unsullied from the sanguinary hands of its found- 
ers, and a brighter era has opened on the human race from the very 
crimes that appeared to overcloud its prospects." 

Such hopes are the dream of the poet ; they constitute the charm of the 
melodrama, but belong not to the history of man. The crimes of the 
Revolution had been too great ; the breaches it made, too wide ; the blood 
shed, too profusely lavished ; the injuries inflicted, too serious and uni- 
versal — to admit the immediate founding of a pacific and prosperous 
society on its ruins. Human passions do not subside, like the waves of 



1814.J HISTORY OF EUROPE. 425 

the ocean, when the winds are stilled ; and iniquity, once let loose, can- 
not be restrained as soon as its original instigators are destroyed. 

One of the earliest measures of the Parliament of Great Britain after 
the conclusion of peace was, a resolution to provide for the military heroes 
of that nation on a scale of munificence proportionate to their services. 
The House of Commons, by a unanimous vote, granted four hundred 
thousand pounds sterling to Wellington, and pensions of two thousand 
pounds per annum were likewise voted, severally, to Sir Thomas Graham, 
Marshal Beresford, and Sir Rowland Hill. Wellington was subsequently 
created a Duke ; Graham, Beresford and Hill were raised to the peerage; 
the honors of knighthood were bestowed on Picton, Cole, Leith, and others 
who bore a prominent part in the contest ; while ribbons and stars were 
scattered profusely among their less distinguished brethren in arms. 

About the same time, an interesting discussion on the affairs of Norway 
took place in Parliament. It had been provided by a treaty between 
Alexander and Bernadotte, in 1812, that the latter should receive the 
kingdom of Norway in exchange for the continental possessions of Sweden 
which he ceded to Denmark ; and Great Britain had not only recoE^nized 
this treaty, but promised her armed interference, if necessary, to carry it 
into effect. Now, however, when Bernadotte claimed from Great Britain 
the performance of her promise, the Norwegians loudly protested against 
this compulsory transfer of a free people to the rule of their hereditary 
enemies ; they also refused to obey an order of the King of Denmark to 
admit the Swedish authorities ; prepared to resist any forcible occupation 
of their territory, and dispatched envoys to Great Britain to interest the 
English people in their cause. In consequence of these proceedings, Ber- 
nadotte assembled an army on the frontier, and some British ships were 
sent to blockade the harbors of Norway. The most lively interest v/as 
excited in Europe by these belligerent measures, as well from the import- 
ance to the parties concerned of the questions at issue, as from the indi- 
cations thus afforded of the intention of the allied powers in regard to other 
countries which might, in like manner, be transferred from their legiti- 
mate rulers. The subject of British intervention to enforce this treaty, 
was warmly debated in Parliament ; the ministry insisting on the policy 
to which they stood pledged by the compact, and the opposition contend- 
ing for the inalienable rights of a free people : on the final question, the 
majority of the Peers in favor of the ministry was eighty-one, and of the 
Commons a hundred and fifty-eight. 

Nevertheless, as the resistance of the Norwegians continued, Berna- 
dotte commenced actual hostilities to effect the occupation of the country. 
He first published a manifesto, promising to the people a constitution on 
the footing of national representation, and giving them the power of levy- 
ing their own taxes ; but this was disregarded by the Norwegians, as was 
also a letter addressed to them by the King of Denmark, counselling them 
to submission, and denouncing Prince Christian, whom they had recently 
proclaimed king. Prince Christian, far from being intimidated by the 
threatening aspect of affairs, traversed the country, and everywhere en- 
cou raged the people to defend their rights. 

But the engagements of the allied powers to Sweden were too impera- 
tive to' suffer their giving heed (0 the appeals of the Norweo-ians. Mr. 
Anker, the envoy to London from tliat country, was informed by Lord 
Liverpool of the position of the British government, and requested to return 



426 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XLVIL 

home : despite this, however, the Diet of Norway formally conferred the 
crown on Prince Christian and his male heirs. M. Morier was subse- 
quently dispatched by the British cabinet to effect a pacific settlement of 
the differences, and the envoys of the allied powers arrived in Norway 
with a similar intention; but all their efforts were fruitless: they there- 
fore departed without having accomplished anything, and preparations 
were made on both sides for war. 

The campaign was opened by an attack, near the Hualorn islands, on 
the Norwegian fleet, which the Swedish squadron defeated with trifling 
loss to their own ships. Bernadotte followed up this success by an inva- 
sion of Norway. His leading columns, under General Gahn, were re- 
pulsed in an attempt to force the mountain passes; but this proved only a 
temporary disadvantage. Frederickstadt was soon after captured ; the 
Norwegian army was routed at Isebro; Sleswick fell into the hands of 
the Swedes; preparations were made for bombarding Frederickstein ; 
and, after a series of marches and manoeuvres, the army of Christian was 
surrounded by superior forces near Moss. This succession of disaster 
dispirited the Norwegians, and rendered a further struggle hopeless ; a 
convention was therefore concluded with Bernadotte, wherein Christian 
renounced his pretensions to the crown, and the King of Sweden con- 
sented to govern Norway under the restrictions of a modified constitution 
prepared by the Diet of the latter kingdom. The terms of this constitu- 
tion, in detail, were highly favorable to the Norwegians, who preserved 
the substance, though not the form of independence. Bernadotte has 
since ruled them with lenity and judgment, and though many old patriots 
still mourn over the loss of their political freedom, Norway has no sub- 
stantial reason to regret her union with the Swedish monarchy. 

Some important measures relative to the corn laws, took place at this 
time, in the British Parliament. 

During a greater part of the eighteenth century, England had been, to 
a certain extent, an exporting country ; and the land owners had suffi- 
cient influence in the legislature to obtain the passage of a law, granting 
a bounty of five shillings a quarter on all wheat shipped to foreign states. 
By the first statute of William and Mary, c. 12, passed in 1688, exporta- 
tion was allowed, and the bounty paid, when wheat should be at or under 
48s. the quarter. Throughout the succeeding century, the bounty was 
repeatedly suspended, owing to the high price of grain, and numerous 
supplementary statutes were passed to alleviate the temporary distress : 
the act of William and Mary, however, continued to be the general law 
of the country until 1765, when by 3 George III., c. 31, the bounty was 
abolished and all import duties were repealed. This state of things con- 
tinued until 1791 ; at which time, by 31 George III., c. 30, the old bounty 
was revived when wheat should be under 44s. the quarter, and exporta- 
tion prohibited when it rose above 46s. The same law imposed a duty of 
*24s. 3d. the quarter on imported wheat, if prices were under 50s.; of 2s. 
6d. when they were from 50s. to 54s. ; and of 6d. when they exceeded 
54s. This scale was to a certain degree modified by 44 George III., c. 
108, passed in 1804, which act allowed wheat to be exported when prices 
were at or under 48s., with a bounty of 5s. ; if prices were above 54s., 
export was prohibited: on imports, if prices were under 63s., tlie duty 
was '24s. 3d. ; if from 63s. to 66s., 2s. 6d. ; and if above 66s., 6d. The 
object of these, and a great number of intermediate and temporary acts. 



1814.] HISTORY OF EUR-dTE. 427 

was to prevent that grievous evil to which a people are subjected by great 
fluctuations in the price of grain ; and to secure, as far as human foresight 
could, the advantage of steady supply and uniform value in this prime 
article of man's subsistence. ■' 

Under the operation of these statutes, Great Britain, for nearly seventy 
years, continued to be an exporting country. From 1697 to 1766, ex- 
cepting six years of that period, the amount annually shipped was much 
greater than that imported, and in some instances this excess reached as 
high as nine hundred thousand quarters. After 1766, the balance was 
reversed, and especially during the scarcity of 1800, 1801, and 1810, the 
total imports ranged from twelve hundred thousand to fifteen hundred 
thousand quarters, against an export of from twenty-two thousand to 
seventy-five thousand. This was a most important change, and the varia- 
tion in prices was hardly less so: for ten years, ending in 1785, the ave- 
rage value of wheat was forty-seven shillings and some pence ; for the 
same term, ending 1795, it averaged fifty-four shillings; again, to 1805 
it averaged eighty-one shillings ; and for the eight years thence ensuing, 
it rose to one hundred and one shillings. These facts naturally awak- 
ened the anxious solicitude of the legislature and the nation at the close 
of the war, when the restoration of a general peace exposed the British 
farmer anew to the competition of foreign grain ; and when the great 
change in prices, consequent on the suspension of cash payments and 
the boundless expenditures of the war, rendered him so much less able 
to bear it. 

Under the combined influence of foreign exclusion and domestic en- 
couragement, in tlie latter years of the contest, agriculture had greatly 
increased. Capital to the amount of several hundred millions sterling 
had been invested in land, and had yielded a remunerating return: the 
home cultivators, notwithstanding an increase of nearly fifty per cent, in 
the population during the preceding twenty-five years, kept pace with the 
vrants of the inhabitants; the importation of grain, of late, was trifling in 
amount ; and it now became a grave question whether these advantages 
should be thrown away — whetlier, after the nation had rendered itself 
independent of foreign countries as regarded its breadstufls, it should 
recommence the importation of groin, and sacrifice what had been gained 
by such persevering effort. The matter was debated at great length by 
Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Frankland Lewis and Sir Henry 
Parnell, in favor of the Corn Law, and Mr. Rose and Mr. Canning, in the 
opposition. A bill was finally passed by large majorities in both houses 
of Parliament, establishing the sliding scale, to commence with a duty on 
imported wheat of twenty-four shillings, when the price should be sixty- 
three shillings the quarter; and this duty was to decrease one shilling for 
every shilling of augmentation in the market price of grain. 

IMeantime, France was struggling with events consequent on the down- 
fall of Napoleon. Probably no task ever fell to the lot of man more 
difficult of performance, than that which now devolved on Louis XVIIL: he 
had to restrain passion without power, satiate rapacity without money, and 
appease ambition without the means of conferring glory. Before the cri- 
sis of the final struggle ^arrived, the general desire was for delivei-ance ; 
but when the conqueror fell, and the parties whose coalition had effected 
his overthrow were called to remodel the government, to share the power, 
to nominate the members of the administration, irreconcilable differences 



428 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XL VII. 

began at once to appear. Mutual jealousies, as rancorous as those which 
had rent the Empire asunder, shook the monarchy at the moment of its 
restoration. 

The Republicans in the Senate joined Talleyrand and the Royalists, 
solely on the promise that their wishes should be consulted in modelling 
the new Constitution, and that they should obtain a large share in the ap- 
pointments and influence of the government. Extravagant expectations 
had consequently been formed with regard to the amount of popular power 
that would follow the Restoration ; and the Constitution of 1791 was openly 
canvassed as the basis of the new monarchy. 

The sentiments of the French king, however, matured by misfortune 
and reflection, were not to be controlled by a party. He determined to 
pursue a middle course, between the Royalists and Republicans ; and 
hoped, without submitting to such conditions as might alienate the former, 
to satisfy the latter by yielding to their reasonable demands. He resolved, 
therefore, to make no terms with his subjects, but mount the throne and 
grant, of his own free will, such a Constitution as would be acceptable to 
the warmest friend of civil liberty. A commission to frame such a Con- 
stitution was accordingly formed, consisting of nine members of the 
Legislative Body, nine of the Senate, and four others appointed by the 
king. They assembled on the 22nd of May ; and on the 27th, completed 
a Charter which was solemnly promulgated to the Senate and Legislative 
Body at the Bourbon Palace, on the 4th of June. The king there pro- 
duced a speech of his own composition, and announced to the peers and 
deputies that he had prepared a Charter, which would then be read to 
them. He concluded his address with these words: "A painful recol- 
lection mingles with my joy, at thus finding myself, for the first time, in 
the midst of the representatives of the people, who have given me such 
numerous proofs of their affection. I was born — and I hoped always to 
remain — the faithful subject of the best of kings : yet I now occupy his 
place. He still breathes, however, in the spirit of this Charter, which, 
filled with his sentiments, and embodied by the counsels of many among 
you, shall now be read." 

These words were answered with loud applause ; but a feeling of sur- 
prise and a murmur of dissatisfaction ran through the assembly, when 
M. d'Ambray, the chancellor, declared that the king, " taught by twenty- 
five years of misfortune, has brought an ordinance of reformation to his 
people, by which he extinguishes all parties, as he maintains all interests. 
In full possession of his hereditary rights over this noble kingdom, the 
king has no wish but to exercise the authority which he has received from 
God and his fathers, by placing limits to his own power. He has no wish 
but to be the supreme chief of the great family of which he is the head. 
It is he who is about to give to the French a Constitutional Charter, suited 
at once to their desires and their wants, and to the respective situation of 
men and things.''' When the veterans of the Revolution heard this, they 
remembered the words of Mirabeau, after Lous XVL, in 1789, had an- 
nounced his concessions to the States-General : " The concessions made 
by the king would be sufficient for the public good, if the presents of des- 
potism were not always dangerous." 

In fact, the concessions of the Charter, though prefaced by these inju- 
dicious and ominous words, miglit, at the outset of the revolutionary 
troubles, have satisfied the most devoted friends of rational freedom. 



1814.] IIISTORYOFEUROPE. 429 

The great foundations of civil liberty — liberty of conscience and wor- 
ship ; freedom of the press ; equality in the eye of the law ; the ricrht 
of being taxed by the national representatives only; the division of the 
Legislature into two chambers ; and the trial by jury — were, by it, am- 
ply secured. The members of the Chamber of Peers, were to be nomi- 
nated by the king ; and to consist of six ecclesiastical peers, twenty of the 
old noblesse, twelve of the dignitaries of the revolution, ninety-one of 
Napoleon's senators, and six generals of the ancient regime. The pow- 
ers of the Legislative Body were greatly enlarged by the Charter • in- 
deed, it rendered that branch of the government the depository of nearly 
all the public authority ; and, in consequence, its members received the 
new Constitution with sentiments of the most lively gratitude. Yet there 
were two things connected with the formation of this chamber, singularly 
demonstrative of the scanty elements now existing in France, for the 
construction of a really free monarchy. In the first place, an annual 
pension was secured to each member, of the same amount as had been 
granted by Napoleon ; and, in the second place, no person could be 
elected a deputy, unless he paid a yearly tax to the government of one 
thousand francs ; and the right of voting, was restricted to persons pay- 
ing not less than three hundred francs of direct tax annually : a regula- 
tion which placed the entire constituency among the more opulent classes, 
and limited its numbers to eighty thousand, out of a population of thirty 
millions. 

The provisions of the Charter, in the abstract, were with care and lib- 
erality adapted to the wants of the people. Every public burden was to 
be borne equally, by all classes, in proportion to their respective for- 
tunes ; universal liberty of conscience and worship was secured, although 
the Roman Catholic clergy were alone to receive support from the state ; 
free publication of opinions was permitted, subject, however, to the laws 
which guarded against the abuses of the press ; a universal amnesty for 
the past was proclaimed ; the conscription was abolished ; the person of 
the king was declared sacred and inviolable, his ministers being alone 
held responsible for his actions ; the king was invested with the sole 
power of proposing laws ; he commanded the forces by sea and land ; 
could alone declare war and make peace ; conclude treaties and con- 
ventions ; nominate to public employment, civil and military ; and " was 
intrusted with the right of making the regulations and ordinances neces- 
sary for the execution of the laws, and the safety of the state." The 
cognizance of cases of high treason, was confined to the Chamber of 
Peers ; that of ordinary offences, to the courts of law with the aid of ju- 
ries; all judges were to be nominated by the king and hold their office 
for life, excepting justices of the peace, who were subject to removal. 
The code Napoleon was made the common law of France ; the ancient 
noblesse resumed, and the new noblesse retained their titles ; the order 
of the Legion of Honor was preserved ; the deputies were elected for five 
years, but every year one-tiflth of their number was to retire, and elec- 
tions to that extent were decreed, to fill the vacancies thus made. 

These enactments contained the elements of a wise system of govern- 
ment ; but laws are inoperative without the support of public morality, 
and the most careful regulations for the liberty of the subject are vain, 
if the spirit necessary to maintain them is wanting in the governors and 
the governed. Nor was this lack of harmony between the national 



430 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XL VII. 

emergencies and the provisions of the Charter, the sole obstacle to its 
beneficial operation : it was, in four particulars, unhappily defective. 
First, it contained nothing to prevent arbitrary imprisonment, or to deter- 
mine the period, during which a person under arrest might be detained 
without trial. Secondly, no attempt was made to limit the oppression of 
the police — a set of civil functionaries, who impose such excessive and 
needless restraints on human action, that their official existence may 
safely be deemed incompatible with true freedom. Thirdly, the Cham- 
ber of Peers, instead of being composed of great proprietors, hereditary 
in their functions, respectable from their fortunes, or illustrious from 
their descent, was, for the most part, made up of salaried officials, who 
enjoyed their seats for life. Fourthly, no provision was made for the 
establishment of the Church, or for public instruction on an adequate ba- 
sis ; but the teachers in both departments were left to languish, in the 
obscurity and indigence bequeathed to them by the perfidy and rapacity 
of the Revolution. 

But great as were the embarrassments attendant on the forming of the 
Constitution, a still more difficult task was to provide for the destitute 
multitudes, which the Revolution had left in France ; to reconcile their 
conflicting interests, and calm their furious passions. Restoration is al- 
ways a work of peril and uncertainty : Henry IV. perished under it; 
James II. fled from its dangers; and it is no wonder that the feeble dy- 
nasty of the Bourbons was unequal to its achievement. The public joy 
at their return to France, was equally general and sincere ; for it had its 
rise in a sense of relief from impending and insupportable evils. But 
when those evils passed away ; when the allied armies no longer bur- 
dened the country ; when the conscription ceased to tear families asun- 
der, and France was left alone with her monarch, her losses and her 
numiliation, the bitterness of the change bowed the nation to the earth. 
Entire classes, and those too the most powerful and important, were a 
prey to secret alarm or sullen discontent. The holders of the national 
domains, several millions in number, endured the greatest anxiety : the 
government had indeed guarantied the possession of their estates, but the 
government had not been a participant of the iniquity by which their 
property was acquired. They felt the same uneasiness at the restora- 
tion of the legitimate authority, that the holders of stolen property feel at 
the approach of the officers of justice. The regicides, and those who 
were implicated in the actual crimes of the Revolution, experienced still 
greater apprehension : the unqualified amnesty of the Charter could not 
remove their disquietude: conscience told them that they deserved pun- 
ishment ; and the fact of the Restoration was a daily act of impeachment 
against them. The army, too, was in despair: defeated in the field; 
driven back into France; humiliated in the sight of Europe ; the soldiers 
had now the additional mortification, of being disbanded and condemned 
to inactivity. The wandering life of camps, the excitement of battle, the 
joys of the bivouac, the terrors of the breach, the contributions from prov- 
inces, the plunder of cities, were theirs no longer ; and they found them- 
selves scattered over the territories of France, without employment or 
the means of support. 

The penury of the government was another serious evil of this embar 
rassing period. The Tuilerics were besieged from morning till night i)y 
clamorous crowds, composed of men divided from each other in [)rinc'.ple 



18U.J HISTORYOFEUROPE, 431 

as widely as the poles are asunder, but uniting in one loud and importu- 
nate cry for employment or relief from the king : one half were Royal- 
ists demanding compensation for the losses they had sustained during the 
Revolution, or a reward for the fidelity with which they had adhered to 
the cause of the exiled monarch and aided his return ; the other, digni- 
taries and officials of the Imperial regime, who had been deprived of all 
by the overthrow of Napoleon and the contraction of the dominions of the 
P^mpire. The necessities of the troops were still more urgent. Eight 
months' pay was due to them, and ten months' to the commissaries and 
civil administrators. To meet these demands, Louis XVIII. had an ex- 
hausted treasury, a diminished territory, and a bankrupt people. The 
taxes and requisitions of the last two years of Napoleon's reign, had been 
so enormous, that the provinces which bore the brunt of war were unable 
to endure any imposts whatever ; indeed, such was the general impover- 
ishment of the country, the total arrears for the same period amounted to 
no less than thirteen hundred millions of francs ; and while, by the most 
rigid economy, the government could not reduce its annual expenditures 
below eight hundred and thirty millions of francs, the income did not ex- 
ceed five hundred and twenty millions ; and even this sum was obtained 
with the greatest difficulty, and by adding one-third to the direct taxes. 

The genius of Sully and the firmness of Pitt united, could scarcely 
have made head with such means against such difficulties ; and it may 
well be imagined that Louis and his ministers were unequal to the task. 
Striving to please both parties, they gained the confidence of neither. 
They had not power or vigor enough to take a decided stand, and yet 
possessed sufficient confidence in their legitimate title to hazard a perilous 
one. Their system was to retain in their employment all the Imperial 
functionaries, civil and military, and indeed to make no change in the 
nation but by the substitution of a king for an Emperor, and the introduc- 
tion of a few leading royalists into the cabinet. They hoped thus to 
secure the power of the Revolution, by injuring none of its interests: but 
they forgot that mankind are governed by desires, passions, and preju- 
dices, as well as by selfish considerations ; and that Napoleon had so long 
succeeded in governing the Empire, only because while, in deeds, he 
sedulously attended to the interests of the Revolution, he carefully, in 
words and forms, flattered its principles. The capital error of the Bour- 
bons lay in this : that while they wholly depended on the physical forces 
of the Revolution, they made no attempt to disguise their aversion to its 
tenets ; and that, without endeavoring to establish any adequate counter- 
poise to its power, they irrevocably alienated its supporters. 

They abolished the national colors, the object of even superstitious ven- 
eration to the French soldiery, and replaced them with the white flao- of 
the monarchy ; they changed the numbers of the regiments, thus confu- 
sing or destroying the recollections connected with many fields of fame, 
and reducing those which had fought at Rivoli, or Austerlitz, to a level 
with a newly-raised corps. When the tri-color standards were ordered 
to be given up, the veterans of many regiments burned them and preserved 
their ashes : the officers generally secreted the eagles, and the men hid 
the tri-color cockades in their knapsacks. The designations of the 
superior officers were changed : generals of brigade were denominated 
marshals of the camp ; and generals of division, lieutenant-generals. Cath- 
olic and Protc'jtant soldiers were alike compelled to go to mass, to confess 



432 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XL VII. 

and to communicate. The Imperial Guard, which in the first instance 
was intrusted with the service of the Tuileries, was soon removed, and 
its place was supplied hy troops from Switzerland and La Vendee. Six 
companies of gardes-du-corps and several red companies of guards were 
organized — in short, the military splendor of Louis XV. was revived at 
court, and these new troops, in their yet unsullied uniforms, supplanted the 
veterans of France in the honoraiy service of attendance on the palace. 

The civil regulations of the new government, though not so important 
in themselves as those relating to the military administration, were not 
less material in their ultimate effects ; for they exposed the court to at- 
tacks which in Parisian society are more fatal than any other — those of 
ridicule. An ordinance of the police prohibited labor on the Sabbath ; 
and this regulation, though expressly enjoined by religion and loudly 
called for by the interests of the working-classes, became the object of 
unmeasured obloquy, because it circumscribed the pleasures or the gains 
of an unbelieving and selfish generation. The restoring of the forms and 
ceremonies of the Roman Catholic service in the chapel of the Tuileries 
not only excited the I'idicule, but also awakened the fears of a revolu- 
tionary people, who regarded these rites as the remnants of an exploded 
superstition. Female animosity, too, added its bitter venom to the many 
other causes that influenced the general discontent : the ladies of the new 
noblesse were daily exposed to the cutting sarcasms of those of the ancient 
regime ; and not one of the marshals' wives or the duchesses of the Em- 
pire was placed in the Royal household. The revival of the ancient 
Orders, especially that of St. Louis, gave rise to a rumor that the Legion 
of Honor was about to be superseded ; and the excitement on this subject 
became so great, that the king found it necessary to issue a public denial 
of entertaining such a project. In fact, the civil government of the Res- 
toration, while in all essential particulars favorable to the interests of the 
Revolution, had nevertheless in language, form and ceremony, introduced 
the most antiquated and offensive features of the monarchy : and the 
French had discernment enough to see that, in the intoxication of success, 
v/ords and forms betrayed the secret thoughts, and that acts favorable to 
revolutionary principles were adopted only from state necessity. 

The general exasperation rose at length to such a pitch, that the Im- 
perialists on the one hand, and the disappointed adherents of the monarchy 
on the other, buried their mutual animosities and antipathies, in order to 
decry every measure of the government. The celebration of a solemn 
and touching funeral service to the memory of Louis XVI., Marie An- 
toinette, and the Princess Elizabeth, was denounced as the commencement 
of hostilities against the Revolutionists : the exhumation of the remains 
of several Vendean and Chouan leaders, and their interment in consecrated 
ground, was considered a proof of deplorable superstition : the reductiori 
in the numbers and emoluments of persons employed in the public depart- 
ments — rendered unavoidable by the insolvency of the nation — was styled 
a wanton attack on the glory of the Empire : even the restitution to their 
rightful owners of the confiscated national domains, so far as they had not 
been disposed of, combined with a proposal to indemnify the surviving 
victims of the Revolution, and the disabled soldiers of the Empire, was 
pronounced by all the disafiected to be partial and oppressive. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

CONGRESS OF VIENNA. NAPOLEON's FINAL STRUGGLE. 

While the Fpench government was vainly striving to close the Avounds, 
and mitigate the sufferings induced by the Revolution, negotiations for the 
adjustment of the affairs of Europe had commenced, and were yet in 
progress at Vienna. 

It was originally intended, that the congress of Vienna should begin its 
deliberations on the 27th of July ; but the visit of the allied sovereigns 
to England, and their subsequent return to their own capitals, caused a 
postponement until the 25th of September. Among the members of this 
assemblage were, the Emperor of Russia, the Kings of Prussia, Bavaria, 
Denmark and Wirtemberg,. Lord Castlereagh, the Duke of Wellington, 
Talleyrand, Metternich, and many other persons of distinction from the 
lesser European states. These personages maintained in appearance the 
most amicable and confidential relations ; yet it was easy to perceive that 
their views were widely dissimilar, and that the removal of common dan- 
ger, and the division of common spoil had produced their usual effect, 
dissension among the victors. 

The first difficulty arose from a dispute as to the right of precedence 
among the several states represented; but this was readily settled by a 
happy expedient of Alexander, who recommended an alphabetical ar- 
rangement, in conformity to which the members should subscribe their 
names. A more serious difficulty next occurred ; a question, namely, 
which of the states should in their own right, as principals, take part in 
the deliberations. The representatives of Russia, Prussia, Austria and 
Great Britain, wished to dispose of the territories wrested from Napoleon 
and his allies, before entering into conferences with France and Spain. 
Talleyrand and the Spanish plenipotentiary resisted this desire, and strove 
to show that the treaty of Chaumont had, in effect, ceased with the accom- 
plishment of its objects ; and that France, at least, should be admitted to 
a full participation in the proceedings. Lord Castlereagh and Metternich, 
who early perceived the necessity of a counterpoise to the preponderating 
influence of Russia, supported Talleyrand's request ; and it was eventually 
agreed, that all questions before the congress should be submitted to a 
committee of ministers from the four allied powers just mentioned, together 
with those from France, Spain, Portugal and Sweden : the Cardinal Gon- 
zalvi, from the court of Rome, was afterward added to the number. 

Under this arrangement, several important measures were concluded 
by unanimous approval. Belgium and Holland were joined together, 
under the title of the Netherlands ; Sweden and Norway were also united ; 
Hanover, with a considerable accession of territory taken from West- 
phalia, was restored to the King of England ; Lombardy was again placed 
under the rule of Austria; and Savoy, under that of Piedmont. But the 
affairs of Poland, Saxony, and Genoa, led to serious dissensions. Alex- 
ander insisted, that the Grand-duchy of Warsaw should be ceded to Rus- 
sia, as an indemnity for her losses and sacrifices during the war ; and 
Prussia, being as well from gratitude as position under the influence of 



434 HISTORYOF EUROPE. [Chap. XLVIII. 

her powerful neighbor, seconded the views of the Czar; and proposed, on 
condition of obtaining Saxony and an indemnity on the Rhine for herself, 
to cede the southern provinces of Poland to Russia. France, Austria and 
England, however, opposed these sweeping annexations of territory to the 
northern powers. Independent of the obvious peril to the other European 
.states which would be incurred, by adding the greater part of Poland to 
Russia, and extending Prussia to the Elbe and the Rhine, Lord Castlereagh 
objected to these proposals, as contrary to the gi'eat principles of justice 
on which the war against Napoleon had been maintained. Metternich 
and Talleyrand adopted the same views ; and here Alexander lost pa- 
tience. He anticipated opposition from England and Austria, but he was 
unprepared for such a line of policy on the part of France. He openly 
charged Louis XVIIL with ingratitude, and manifested his displeasure to 
Talleyrand without reserve : he also entered into communication with 
Eugene Beauharnois, espoused the cause of Murat against France as 
touching the crown of Naples, and spoke of the unfitness of the elder 
brancli of the House of Bourbon for the throne ; and averred, that a revolu- 
tion might yet put the sceptre into the hands of the House of Orleans. 

But these divisions were not long confined to mere expressions of ill- 
humor ; acts of great moment followed angry words, and all parties pre- 
pared for war. Alexander sent orders to halt his armies in Poland on 
their return to Russia ; Hardenberg declared that Prussia would not re- 
linquish Saxony, and the cabinet of Berlin at once put their troops on a 
war footing ; while the Grand-Duke Constantine, at that time in command 
of Alexander's forces, prepared the soldiers by proclamations on the one 
hand, and strict discipline on the other, to take the field and renew the 
contest without loss of time. Nor were the other powers idle: they, too, 
hastened their preparations for resuming hostilities ; and while a congress 
assembled for the pacification of the world was professedly deliberating 
on the means of accomplishing that object, the various sovereigns therein 
represented, were maintaining a million of men in arms for the purpose 
of mutual destruction. 

The differences were at length brought to a crisis, by the conclusion of 
a secret treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, between Austria, 
France, and England, on the 3rd of February, 1815. By this compact 
it was stipulated, that the contracting parties should act disinterestedly 
and in concert to carry into effect the treaty of Paris : that each, to sup- 
port the others and the common cause, should maintain in the field a hun- 
dred and fifty thousand men. The Kings of Hanover, Bavaria, and 
Piedmont, were invited to join the coalition, which they immediately did ; 
so that, in effect, the forces of Western and Southern Europe were ar- 
rayed against Russia and Prussia. The parties to this treaty took great 
pains to keep its existence secret ; nevertheless, it soon transpired to a 
certain extent, and had an immediate effect in modifying the views of the 
refractory powers. Metternich now took a bolder tone, and his intervention 
was decisive. Russia agreed to relinquish several districts of Poland, 
afid Prussia avowed her determination to be satisfied with a portion of 
Saxony on the right bank of the Elbe. 

The adjustment of this difficulty enabled the congress to dispatch in 
detail, matters of secondary consequence. The Germanic States were 
united in one confederacy, bound to afford mutual support in case of ex- 
ternal attack, and to be directed by a Diet, in which Austria and Prussia 



1815.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 435 

were each to have two votes, and Bavaria, Wirtemberg, and Hanover, 
each one vote ; but with the reserved right on the part of the great pow- 
ers, to make separate war and peace for themselves. It has already been 
mentioned, that Holland and Belgium were joined together under the title 
of the Netherlands; this measure was now perfected by the reunion of 
the seventeen old provinces into a monarchy, under a prince of the House 
of Nassau ; the great fortress of Luxemburg, with its adjacent territory, 
being alone excluded and added to the German Confederation; and by 
patent, dated March 16th, 1815, the King of Holland took the title of 
King of the Netherlands and Grand-Duke of Luxemburg, and as such 
was immediately recognized by the courts of Europe. By this arrange- 
ment, Holland ceded to Great Britain the Cape of Good Hope, Dem- 
erara, Essequibo, and Berbice ; and in return. Great Britain restored to 
the King of the Netherlands th^ noble island of Java. The affairs of 
Switzerland were readily disposed of. That Confederacy was declared 
to embrace the nineteen Cantons on an equal footing, and they all form- 
ally acceded to their Constitution on the 27th of May. Italy presented, 
in some respects, a more complicated field for diplomacy. The cession 
of Lombardy to Austria, and of the Genoese republic to the kingdom of 
Piedmont, was indeed readily settled ; but the conflicting claims of Murat 
and the old Bourbon family to the throne of Naples, excited a warm de- 
bate, which, ere it terminated, led to another of still higher interest. 

Toward the end of February, rumors had reached Vienna of a con- 
stant correspondence between the island of Elba and the adjoining shores 
of Italy, and also of an intended descent by Napoleon on the coast of 
France. These rumors soon acquired such consistency that the propriety 
of removing the ex-Emperor from Elba, was more than once discussed in 
the congress. Alexander opposed any such measure, on the ground that 
he had pledged his honor to secure that asylum to his great antagonist, 
and he would not forfeit it. Metternich, however, was so strongly im- 
pressed with a sense of the impending danger, that he secretly sent a 
letter to Fouche, at Paris, inquiring, " What would happen if Napoleon 
should return ? What, if the King of Rome with a squadron of horse 
were to appear on the frontier ? and what will France now do, if left to 
her spontaneous action ?" Fouche replied, that should a single regiment 
of an army sent against Napoleon declare for him, the others would fol- 
low the example : if the King of Rome were escorted to the frontier by 
an Austrian troop, the nation would instantly hoist his colors : and that, 
in case nothing of this sort took place, France, of her own volition, would 
soon seek refuge in the Orleans dynasty. The extent of present danger 
was, nevertheless, unappreciated by the majority, and all were involved 
in a whirl of gayety, splendor and dissipation at Vienna, when intelli- 
gence was brought to Metternich at a great ball in the capital, that Napo- 
leon HAD SECRETLY LEFT Elba. All minor differences uow disappeared 
from the congress ; the grasping desires of Russia and Prussia were for- 
gotten; and the most vigorous measures adopted to meet the astounding 
emergency. 

The cabinet of Vienna took the lead in these proceedings, inasmuch as 
Napoleon, relying on his connexion with the House of Hapsburg, had de- 
clared by proclamation that he returned to France with the concurrence 
of Austria, and was to be supported by the troops of that Empire. Met- 
ternich, therefore, to set at rest all question on that subject, averred that 



436 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLVIIl. 

" it will be worthy of the allied powers, and of the highest importance in 
the existing crisis, to express a decided opinion on an event that must cre- 
ate a profound sensation in every part of Europe. Napoleon Bonaparte, 
in quitting the island of Elba, and disembarking at the head of an armed 
force in France, has rendered himself a disturber of the general peace j 
he therefore can no longer claim the protection of any treaty or law. 
The powers who signed the treaty of Paris feel themselves, in an especial 
manner, called on to declare in the face of Europe in what light they 
view this outrage ; and they are prepared to support the King of France 
with all their armies, should circumstances render their assistance neces- 
sary." These sentiments met with the cordial approval of every member 
of the congress ; and a declaration was immediately issued to the follow- 
ing effect : 

" The powers which signed the treaty of Paris, reassembled in con- 
gress at Vienna, being informed of the escape of Napoleon Bonaparte, 
and of his entry with an armed force into France, owe it to tlieir own 
dignity and to the interest of the nations, to make a solemn announcement 
of their sentiments on the occasion. In thus breaking the convention 
which had established him in the island of Elba, Bonaparte has destroyed 
the sole legal title which is attached to his political existence. By reap- 
pearing in France with projects of trouble and overthrow, he has de- 
privedhimself of the protection of the laws, and made it evident, in the 
face of the world, that there can no longer be peace or truce with him. 
The powers therefore declare, that Bonaparte has placed himself out of 
the pale of civil and social relations ; and that, as the general enemy 
and disturber of the world, he is abandoned to public justice. They de- 
clare, at the same time, that being firmly resolved to maintain the treaty 
of Paris, and the dispositions sanctioned by that treaty, they will employ 
all the means at their disposal to secure the continuance of peace ; and 
although they are firmly persuaded that all France will combine to crush 
this last mad attempt of criminal ambition ; yet, should it prove other- 
wise, they are ready to give the King of France all necessary assistance, 
and make common cause against those who shall compromise the public 
tranquillity." The instrument bore the signatures of Metternich, Tal- 
leyrand, Wellington, Hardenberg, Nesselrode, and Lowenheim. 

Nor did the allied powers content themselves with publishing this man- 
ifesto : they proceeded at once to give it efficacy. The Russian troops 
in Poland, "two hundred and eighty thousand strong, were put in readiness 
to march at a moment's notice: and Alexander declared, that "he was 
ready to throw into the crusade the three hundred thousand men of whom 
he had the disposal, to put an end to these revolts of Praetorian guards." 
Austria placed on the war footing her armies in Italy and Germany, two 
hundred and fifty thousand strong ; Prussia called out the landwehr and 
raised her forces to two hundred thousand men ; the lesser states of Ger- 
many mustered their respective contingents, and moved them toward the 
Rhine ; England sent forward her troops and her immense resources to 
aid in the contest; Denmark and Sweden, forgetting their recent divi- 
sions, began to arm in the common cause ; and the Swiss Cantons poured 
their soldiers toward the French frontier; while Spain and Portugal 
joined the general league, and prepared to march their battalions toward 
the Pyrenees. 

In the meantime, the congress adjusted the details of its yet unfinished 



1815.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 437 

measures. Russia accepted the Grand-duchy of Warsaw without the 
fortress of Thorn and its territories, and it was expressly stipulated that 
Poland should not be incorporated with Russia, but form a separate king, 
dom, preserving its own laws, institutions, language and religion. Fred- 
erick Augustus of Saxony, who since the overthrow of Leipsic, had 
inhabited the castle of Fredericksfield as a sort of state-prisoner, was 
liberated, and compelled to cede a large portion of his dominions to Prus- 
sia and Hanover. Europe sympathized with the unfortunate sovereign 
on this partition of his dominions, yet it cannot be denied that he brought 
his disasters on himself: he had cast in his lot with Napoleon, largely 
participated in the French Emperor's conquests, and to the last resisted 
all attempts of the allies to detach him from the interests of France. 

The congress of Vienna also established certain edicts for regulating 
the navigation of the great rivers of Central Europe, especially the Rhine, 
the Neckar, and the Meuse. Moderate duties were prescribed, to be 
collected by a central board and allotted to each of the sovereign pro- 
prietors in proportion to their respective interests. The tolls amounted 
to five hundred and eleven thousand florins per annum. The abolition of 
the slave trade occupied, also, the attention of the congress. The British 
House of Commons had, long before, petitioned the King of England to 
exert his influence with other civilized nations in this behalf; Denmark, 
as early as 1794, had prohibited the traffic ; and the court of Rio Ja- 
neiro, in 1810, and Sweden in 1813, had entered into treaty with Great 
Britain on the subject. The congress of Vienna, however, adopted no 
further measures than the issuing of a joint declaration expressive of its 
abhorrence of the traffic, and their desire for its total extinction. 

With a blindness to the probable course of events which is now scarcely 
conceivable, the unreflecting generosity of the allied sovereigns had as- 
signed to Napoleon, in independent sovereignty, a little island on the Tus- 
can coast, within sight of Italy, within a few days' sail of France, and in a 
position, above all others, the most favorable for carrying on political in- 
trigues with both of those countries. As if, too, to invite a second descent 
into the arena of war, he was placed there with an ample revenue ; an 
armed force, which, by the addition of veterans who joined him in small 
parties from the neighboring shores, soon exceeded a thousand tried and 
experienced soldiers ; and three small vessels of war were at his disposal. 
The allied commissioners were indeed on the island, and enjoyed a large 
share of the society of the Emperor, but they were merely a kind of 
accredited diplomatists at his court ; they could apprise their respective 
governments only of what they saw, without having any authority to 
restrain the movements of Napoleon, or any force at their command to 
interfere with his pleasure. It is true, an English brig of eighteen guns 
cruised off' the island ; but it was idle to suppose that such a vessel could 
blockade even the harbor of Porto Ferrajo. The result should have been 
foreseen. A regular correspondence was maintained by Napoleon with 
his adherents in France and Italy ; his friends and relations continually 
visited him ; and soon, a vast conspiracy was formed — having its centre 
in Paris, and its ramifications throughout the army and civil departments 
in France — the object of which was, to overturn the dynasty of the Bour- 
bons and replace Napoleon on the throne. The defection in the army, 
especially among the private soldiers, was almost universal ; they waited 
with impatience for Napoleon's appearance among them ; and although 



438 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLVIII. 

the secret was possessed by thousands and tens of thousands of the troops 
in France, it did not in a single known instance transpire beyond its de- 
signated limits. Murat was among the fii'st to join Napoleon in his en- 
terprise. His vacillation and weakness had already ruined him with 
the allies, who in consequence neglected his interests at the congress of 
Vienna, and he once more threw himself into the arms of France. 

All things being at length in readiness, Napoleon, on the 26th of 
February, gave a brilliant ball at Porto Ferrajo to the principal persons 
in the island. His mother and sister directed the festivities of the even- 
ing, while he walked around the room, conversing in the most affable man- 
ner with his guests ; at the same time, secret orders were dispatched to 
the guards, eleven hundred in number, to hold themselves in readiness on 
the quay. Napoleon joined them at half past four o'clock, and the em- 
barkation commenced ; by seven o'clock all was completed, and he 
stepped on board the Inconstant brig. The destination of the flotilla, 
which consisted of seven small vessels, was yet unknown both to the 
sailors and soldiers ; but when the squadron was some two leagues from 
the shore, Napoleon announced his intention in these words: "Officers 
and soldiers of my Guard, we are going to France !" Loud cries of 
"Vive I'Empereur!" answered him; and for a time, a feeling of wild 
enthusiasm took possession of the soldiei's. Light winds prevailed during 
the voyage, and the vessels made slow progress ; but at length, on the 1st 
of Marcli, they cast anchor in the gulf of St. Juan, on the coast of Pro- 
vence. The landing was accomplished without opposition, horses were 
purchased for the officers with money furnished by Napoleon, and at night 
the watches were set and the troops bivouacked as on the eve of the bat- 
tle of Austerlitz. 

The dangers of the voyage were now past ; but the perils of the shore 
remained, and they were sufficient to daunt the most resolute. The con- 
spiracy had its adherents in almost every regiment of the army ; but few 
of the superior officers were gained, and it was yet uncertain whether the 
men would act without their orders. The first attempt failed entirely. 
Twenty-five of the Old Guard were sent to Antibes, to seduce the garri- 
son in the Emperor's name ; but they were arrested by the commander of 
the fortress, General Corsin : and when a second detachment came for- 
ward, and began to read at the foot of the ramparts a proclamation of 
Napoleon, he dispersed them by a threat of firing on them with his artil- 
lery. This check discouraged the soldiers, and for a moment caused the 
Emperor himself to hesitate ; but he had gone too far to recede, and at 
four o'clock the next morning he took the road through the mountains to 
Grenoble. The district traversed by this road was more favorable than 
any other to his designs : it contains no great towns or wealthy districts, 
and the inhabitants, for the most part holders of the national domains, 
were strongly imbued with revolutionary principles. They consequently 
received the adventurer with open arms. The little army, under such 
circumstances, made rapid progress through the country, and on the 6th 
of March the leading companies approached Grenoble. But here they 
encountered the advanced guard of the garrison of that town. General 
Cambronne, who led Napoleon's party, was alarmed to find from the 
steadiness of the royalist troops, that a determined resistance awaited 
him ; and he dispatched an aid-de-camp to inform the Emperor. " We 
have been deceived," said Napoleon to Bertrand, on receiving this intel- 



1815.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 439 

ligence ; " but it is no matter — forward !" He hastened to the head of 
the column, and stepping thence toward the hostile troops, he addressed 
them in a voice tremulous from emotion: "Comrades, do you know me?" 
" Yes, sire," replied the men. "Do you recognize me, my children ?" 
he continued ; " I am your Emperor : fii-e on me, if you w'ill : fire on 
your father: here is my bosom;" and he bared his breast as he spoke. 
These words were irresistible. The soldiers broke their ranks and 
crowded around Napoleon with loud shouts of " Vive 1' Empereur !" In 
a moment every man displayed the tri-color cockade ; the eagles reap- 
peared on the standards, and the whole detachment joined the Emperor's 
ranks. Hardly was this done, when Labedoyere, in defiance of the orders 
of General Marchand, marched out from the garrison with his regiment 
and joined Napoleon, who, now at the head of three thousand men, ap- 
proached Grenoble in the afternoon. Marchand and the prefect did their 
utmost to preserve order and keep the troops to their colors; but the pres- 
ence of Napoleon overcame all their arguments ; and finding the soldiers 
resolved to abandon the Bourbon cause, they retired from their command, 
maintaining at least their own loyalty and honor. Napoleon made his 
entry into Grenoble late in the evening, amid the acclamations of the in- 
habitants. 

On the morning of March 3rd, a telegraphic dispatch announced at 
Paris the landing of Napoleon in Provence. M. Blacas, the premier of 
the new government, treated the enterprise with contempt, as the last ef- 
fort of a madman ; but Louis judged differently. His opinions, however, 
were not generally adopted, until the Emperor's advance to Grenoble, 
and the defection of the garrison the;'e became known ; when all classes 
were filled with alarm, and indescribable confusion prevailed at the Tuil- 
eries. The two Chambers were immediately convoked ; the Count d'- 
Artois with the Duke of Orleans and Marshal Macdonald, departed for 
Lyons to maintain order and secure the loyalty of the troops; the Duke 
d' Aiigouleme set out for Bordeaux to rouse the southern provinces; the 
Duke de Bourbon hastened to La Vendee for a similar purpose ; and the 
Duke de Berri assumed the command of an army of reserve to be formed 
at Essoue and Fontaincbleau. 

The inhabitants of Paris proved lukewarm in their support of the king, 
but the marshals and other dignitaries of the Empii'e were loud in pro- 
testations of loyalty. Soult, minister of war, issued a vehement procla- 
mation to the soldiers, stigmatizing the ex-Emperor's enterprise with the 
severest opprobium, and conjuring the troops to remain faithful to their 
king. The municipalities of Paris and the other large towns, together 
with the courts of law, universities and colleges, as well as the marshals 
and other officers in command, also sent in assurances of adhesion to 
the king. Marshal Ney, in particular, expressed in the loudest terms 
his indignation at the Emperor's conduct : and the government so impli- 
citly relied on his fidelity, that they intrusted to him the army assembling 
at Lons-le-Saulnier to stop the progress of the invaders. On the 7th of 
March, he presented himself at the king's levee, at the Tuileries, to take 
leave of his majesty previous to assuming the command of the army. 
" Sire," said he, " I will bring Bonaparte back in an iron cage." Mor- 
tier was placed at the head of the troops in the north of France ; Auge- 
reau was dispatched to Normandy ; full powers were transmitted to 
Massena, at Toulon ; and Oudinot took direction of the forces at Mar- 



440 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLVIII. 

seilles. Everything announced a vigorous resistance ; but, in the mean- 
time, Napoleon's advance was unopposed. Defection after defection 
occurred in the army ; and it was soon ascertained that the corps of thirty 
thousand m^en, posted by order of Soult on the frontier between Besancon 
and Lyons, were in large masses deserting the royal standard. The 
Count d' Artois, the Duke of Orleans and Macdonald, could make no 
impression either on the troops or on the lower orders of the people ; they 
therefore returned, and Napoleon, on the 12th of March, took possession 
of Lyons. This great success at once gave him command of the centre 
of France ; and considering himself now virtually invested with the su- 
preme authority, he issued four decrees ; the first, dissolving the Chambers 
of Peers and Deputies, enjoining the members to return forthwith to their 
homes, and convoking the electoral colleges for an extraordinary assem- 
bly in May ensuing; the second, banishing anew the emigrants returned 
to France, who had not already obtained letters of amnesty from the 
Imperial or Republican governments; the third, abolishing titles of honor 
and noblesse and restoring the laws of the Constituent Assembly on that 
subject, with an exception in favor of those who had received titles for 
services ; the fourth, striking from the list all oificers of the army who 
had taken commissions since April 1st, 1814, and prohibiting the Minister 
at War from granting them pay, even for arrearages. 

Marshal Ney, meantime, reached Auxerre on his road to take com- 
mand of the army. He there met M. Gamott, his brother-in-law, and a 
warm partisan of Napoleon. On this occasion, for the first time, doubts 
were instilled into his mind as to the possibility of upholding the Bour- 
bons. The Emperor, too, well aware of the vacillating character of his 
old lieutenant, caused him to be beset with emissaries, who represented 
the hopes of the Bourbons to be irrevocably ruined, assuring him, at the 
same time, tliat " the Emperor feels no rancor toward you : he stretches 
out his arms to receive you: he agrees with you as to the stranger: there 
will be no more war ; the national principles are about to triumph." 
These appeals proved too much for the fidelity of the marshal. His own 
account of his deplorable and disgraceful treachery is perhaps the most 
charitable one for the historian to adopt. " I had indeed," said he, on 
his subsequent trial, " kissed the hand of the king, his majesty having 
presented it to me when he wished me a good journey. The descent of 
Bonaparte appeared to me so extravagant, that I spoke of it with indig- 
nation, and made use of the expression charged, relative to the iron cage. 
In the night of March 13th — down to which time, I protest my fidelity — 
I received a proclamation, drawn by Napoleon, which I signed. Before 
reading it to the troops, I submitted it to General Bourmont, who said it 
was necessary to join Bonaparte, and that the Bourbons had committed 
such follies that they could no longer be supported." On the 14th, this 
fatal proclamation, which cost him his life and has disgraced his memory, 
was published to the army. 

The defection of Ney, followed by that of his army, at once proved fa- 
tal to the royal authority. Not only were all obstacles removed between 
Napoleon and the capital, but his advance was aided by every possible 
facility : for as the troops sent to oppose him had joined his standard, he 
had command of an irresistible military force. 

In this extremity, the measures of the government were as vigorous as 
the emergency was exigent ; but all efforts were unavailing, from the want 



1815.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 441 

of soldiers to defend the throne. The Charnber of Deputies met, on the 
11th of March, in obedience to the summons of the king, and passed loyal 
addresses by a large majority; so that the court, for a brief season, be- 
lieved the influence of the legislature on the public mind would check the 
progress of treason in the army, and arrest the disaffection of the people. 
But the time was past when a vote of the legislature could make the wea- 
pons drop from the soldiers' hands. The fatal news of Ney's treachery 
filled every heart with dismay ; for its result proved that the army had 
determined to place the Emperor on the throne, and therefore that all hope 
for the Royalists was lost. As a last resource, the king appealed to the 
honor and loyalty of the French character. " I have pledged myself," 
said he, "to the allied sovereigns for the fidelity of the army. If Napo- 
leon triumphs, five hundred thousand strangers will immediately inundate 
France. In you, who are now following other standards than mine, I see 
nothing but children led astray : abjure your error : come and throw your- 
selves into the arras of your father, and I give you my honor that all shall 
be forgotten."^ But these words were uttered in vain. 

On the 19th of March, a review of the National and Royal Guards took 
place. Only a small number, however, of the first mentioned corps ap- 
peared on the ground ; and when the parade was over, the latter, instead 
of taking the road to Fontainebleau, as had been announced, to combat the 
enemy, defiled toward Beauvais, evidently for the purpose of covering 
the retreat of the royal family. At dinner, on that day, the king informed 
the few friends who still remained faithful, that he was about to abandon 
the Tuileries. * Tears fell from every eye ; and the mournful prospect of 
a second exile — of France subjected again to military despotism, van- 
quished, overrun, and probably partitioned — arose in gloomy perspective 
to the minds of all present. The king addressed a few words of comfort to 
each of his guests, and then signed a proclamation dissolving the Cham- 
bers, directing the members to separate forthwith, and to assemble again 
at such time and place as he should afterward appoint. This proclama- 
tion appeared in the Moniteur of March 20th, when Paris was literally 
without a government, the king and royal family having departed at mid- 
night on the 19th. The party travelled rapidly and the following evening 
reached Lille, the capital of French Flanders, where they remained until 
the 24th, and then continued their flight toward Ghent. 

Napoleon arrived at Fontainebleau on the 19th, and proceeded to Paris 
on the 20th. He reached the Tuileries at nine o'clock in the evening. 
The moment his carriage stopped at the gates, he was seized by the at- 
tendants, borne aloft in their arms amid deafening cheers, through a dense 
and brilliant crowd of epaulettes, and hurried up the great stair into the 
saloon of reception. Here, a splendid array of ladies of the Imperial 
court received him with transports, and imprinted kisses on his cheeks, 
his hands, and even his dress : he might well have asked, like Voltaire on 
his last return to Paris, whether the citizens meant to make him die of 
joyv He has himself described this entire day as one of the most delight- 
ful of his life : and he might have added, that it was also his last day of 
unmixed satisfaction. 

After Napoleon retired to rest in the Imperial apartments in the Tuile- 
ries, he had leisure to reflect on his situation, and the means he possessed 
of maintaining himself on the dizzy pinnacle to which he was again ele- 
vated. When he stepped ashore on the coast of France, his first words 



442 HISTORY OFEUROPE. [Chap. XLVIII. 

were, in relation to the congress of Vienna, " There ! the congress is dis- 
solved !" but he well knew that his movements would produce exactly 
the contrary efl'ect: that his return from Elba would terminate the divi- 
sions of the European sovereigns, and that legions as formidable as those 
which had already crushed him, would again overspread his dominions. 
To meet these forces, he had but a fearfully diminished host : the troops 
under arms in France did not exceed one hundred thousand men, and if 
all his veterans could be recalled and rallied around his standard, the total 
number would barely reach two hundred thousand. Besides, through all 
the triumphs of his march from Provence, he had perceived with secret 
disquietude, that his adherents were chiefly among the lowest classes, and 
that the more respectable peasants in the country and citizens in the towns, 
gazed with silent wonder as he passed along. General support, therefore, 
from the physical strength of the nation, he could not expect : for the re- 
membrance of the conscription was too recent ; the detestation of the war, 
too strong; the exhaustion of the military population, too complete. 

The next morning after his arrival in Paris, he was forced to see the 
precarious footing of his authority. The Imperialist party were in rap- 
tures at his return, but very few of them seemed willing to accept the 
perilous honor of a responsible situation under his government. He first 
applied to Fouche; and a stronger proof of the strait to Avhich he was 
reduced could not well be furnished, than his commencing with this old 
blood-stained regicide. Fouche, aware of his importance as head of the 
Republican party, made his own terms. He at first, indeed, asked to be 
Minister of Foreign Affairs ; but Napoleon desired him to resume his 
former situation at the head of the police ; and he consented to do so, in 
the well-founded belief that this office would give him entire command 
of the Interior. Cambaceres declined the office of Minister of Justice, 
but was induced to accept it on condition that he should not be required 
to take part in any public measures. Even Caulaincourt refused the 
portfolio of Foreign Affairs ; and M. Mole also refused it, frankly assu- 
ring the Emperor that, in his opinion, the drama was concluded, and the 
dead could not be revived. Caulaincourt was subsequently compelled, 
by Napoleon's peremptory command, to take the rejected office ; and Maret, 
under similar compulsion, took the portfolio of Secretary of State ; while 
Davoust, who had been in disgrace during the restoration, readily agreed 
to fill the place of Minister at War. In fact, the same disinclination for 
office was manifested in all the inferior departments of the government ; 
and it soon became evident, that the once colossal power of the Emperor 
had been almost wholly undermined by his defeat and abdication. 

His march to Paris was so rapid, that the inhabitants in many of the 
provinces were ignorant of his having advanced beyond Grenoble when 
they heard of his arrival at the capital. This sudden and portentous 
movement stupefied them ; and far from being disposed to transfer their 
allegiance and trample under foot their oaths, the people of Guienne, 
Languedoc and Provence, spontaneously took up arms ; the Duke d'An- 
gouleme actively commenced the organization of new levies in the south- 
ern districts ; and the presence of the Duchess d'Angouleme at Bordeaux, 
so excited the loyalty of the inhabitants, that fifteen thousand National 
Guards in that city and its departments, declared for the Bourbons. 
Napoleon, indeed, soon succeeded in quelling these dangerous outbreaks 
by means of the powerful forces at his command, and the great influence of 



1815.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 443 

his name ; but the fact of such a simultaneous rising against his authority 
was ominous ; and he could not fail to reflect that a similar revolt, 
when his armies were occupied with repelling foreign invasion, might 
lead to much more disastrous results. 

When the allied powers at Vienna received intelligence of Napoleon's 
marvellous success, and found that the authority of the abdicated Empei'or 
v/as again fully establi-shed in France, they resolutely prepared to ac- 
complish his destruction. They saw, in his elevation to the throne on 
the bucklers of his troops, the clearest proof that he would be compelled 
to make war : that a rapacious soldiery, which hailed his return as a 
restoration to the days of pasl glory, would never be contented until again 
plunged in the career of conquest ; and that even were Napoleon himself 
desirous of peace, he would be forced into hostilities by the passions and 
necessities of his followers. Acting on these 0[)inions, the Congress con- 
cluded a new treaty on the 25th of March, which, in effect, revived the 
treaty of Chaumont. The cabinets of Russia, Prussia, Austria and 
Great Britain, " engaged to unite their forces against Bonaparte and his 
faction, in order to prevent him from again troubling the peace of Europe ; 
they each agreed to furnish one hundred and eighty thousand men for the 
prosecution of the war ; and, if necessary, to draw forth their entire 
military force of every description." By a secret treaty, concluded on 
the same day, it was stipulated that the contracting parties should not lay 
down their arms until they had effected the destruction of Napoleon ; and 
all the lesser powers of Europe acceded to these treaties, within a fort- 
night after their ratification. 

On the 31st of March, in a secret meeting held at Vienna, it was re- 
solved to form forthwith three great armies from the allied forces ; the 
first, of two hundred and sixty-five thousand, chiefly Austrians and Bava- 
rians, to be stationed on the Upper Rhine, and commanded by Schwartz- 
enbei'g ; the second, of a hundred and fifty-five thousand Prussians, on the 
Lower Rhine, under Blucher ; the thii'd, of a similar number, composed of 
English, Hanovei'ians and Belgians, in the Low Countries, under Welling- 
ton. It was further resolved, that military operations should be commenced 
early in June ; previous to which time, the Russian army, a hundred and 
seventy thousand strong, might be expected to reach the Upper Rhine 
from Poland; and, entering France by Strasburg and Besancon, form a 
reserve to the invading armies from the eastward. In addition to the 
operations of these large masses, lesser movements were to be made on 
the side of Switzerland and the Pyrenees. 

From this plan of the campaign, it was evident that the British troops 
in Flanders would first be exposed to the shock of war ; and the British 
cabinet made exertions proportionate to the emergency. On the 6th of 
April, a message from the Prince Regent formally announced to both 
Houses of Parliament the events which, in direct contravention of the 
treaty of Paris, had recently occurred in France ; the measures adopted 
by the Congress of Vienna, and the necessity of augmenting the military 
and naval forces of the Empire. The address was approved of in the 
House of Peers, without a dissenting voice, and in the Coinmons, the vote 
stood two hundred and twenty to thirty-seven. The supplies of men and 
money requisite to the present undertaking, were with equal readiness 
voted by Parliament ; and in addition to the enormous sums called for to 
support her own naval and military establishments, Great Britain granted 



444 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLVIIT. 

and paid to the several allied powers within the year, subsidies to the 
amount of more than eleven millions sterling. 

Nothincr that vigor and activity could accomplish was wanting on the 
part of Napoleon, to provide means of defence against the prodigious 
phalanx of his enemies : yet, owing to the exhaustion of the country and 
the apathy or despair of the people, the raising of an adequate force was 
totally impossible. His first care was to restore to the old regiments their 
numbers and their eagles, so unwisely taken away by the late govern- 
ment. He next organized the entire veteran force, now returned from the 
fortresses on the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula, together with the pris- 
oners of the Russian campaign, who had been disbanded by Louis XVIII., 
and dispersed over France. The National Guard was then put in a con- 
dition for maintaining the internal defence of the country, so that the 
regular troops might all be relied on for offensive operations : and by 
these means, the strength of the army was so augmented, that Napoleon 
hoped to take the field, by the first of June, with two hundred thousand 
effective and veteran troops. 

To provide arms and the munitions of war for this number of men, 
from the impoverished arsenals and exhausted finances of the country, 
seemed a still more difficult task: yet here, too, the Empei'or's herculean 
efforts were attended with surprising success. Foundries were put in 
operation, swords, muskets, and cannon were manufactured, and horses 
to a very great extent purchased ; but it may well be believed that the 
enormous expense thus incurred was not discharged in ready money ; 
orders on the treasury, at distant dates, were lavishly given, and under a 
despotic military government, this sort of currency, however valueless, 
could not be refused ; in short, to meet his emergencies. Napoleon set at 
work the old system of terror and compulsion ; and it produced — as for a 
time it always must — magical results* 

HoAvever absolutely and ably Napoleon might direct his military affairs, 
he was forced to intrust his civil administration to Fouche and the repub- 
licans — and they steadily pursued one object, namely, providing, by the 
revival of a republican spirit in the people, a counterpoise to the Empe- 
ror's power. The old regicides and Jacobins were, through Fouche's 
intrigues, everywhere called into activity ; and the approaching election, 
ordered by Napoleon, came almost entirely under their control. The 
language of Fouche to his Republican allies was quite unreserved : " If 
that man," said he, " should attempt to curb the Jacobin principles, we 
will overturn him at once and for ever." Napoleon was aware of all this, 
and greatly desired to resent it ; but his own precarious position compelled 
him to dissemble his wrath and continue Fouche in power. 

The framing of a new Constitution was also one of the tasks of this 
exciting period ; but in a country so habituated to that species of manu- 
facture, such an undertaking was a matter of little comparative difficulty. 
The president of the commission intrusted with this duty was Benjamin 
Constant, and his first draft of a charter was so visionary and democratic 
that Napoleon at once rejected it. The Liberal party then prepared 
another Constitution, styled by Constant the '■^Acte Additionel" which in 
many respects strongly resembled the Charter of Louis XVIII. But in 
three particulars it materially differed from that instrument ; and these 
points showed how much more clearly its framers understood the exi- 
gencies of the times and the necessity of a bulwark to power, than the 



1815.] HISTORY OFEUROPE. 445 

Bourbons had done. In the first place, the peerage was declared to be 
hereditary — not for life only. Secondly, the punishment by confiscation 
of property, abolished by Louis XVIII., was restored in cases of high 
treason. Thirdly, the family of the Bourbons was for ever proscribed, 
and even the power of recalling them denied to the people. While these 
articles were thus hostile to a second restoration of the royal family, they 
pointed unequivocally to the establishment of a strong monarchy for the 
family of Napoleon, and the publication of the " Acte Additionel," on the 
25th of April, excited a violent opposition from the two parties that divided 
the country. One of the publications of the day, in a journal called the 
" Censeur Europeen," was entitled " The influence of the moustache on 
the mind, and the necessity of the sword in government." " What," 
exclaimed this fearless writer, " is glory ? Has a lion, which ma-kes all 
the animals of a surrounding country tremble — has he glory ? Or, a 
miserable people, who know not how to govern themselves and are to their 
neighbors an object only of terror and hatred — have they glory ? If glory 
be the attribute solely of men who have benefited their race, where is 
the glory of a conquering people ?" The public clamor soon became so 
vehement, especially among the Republicans, that Carnot, who felt him- 
self compromised with his party by the "Acte Additionel," wrote to the 
Emperor, that " dissatisfaction was universal, civil war was on the point 
of breaking out, and that it was indispensable to publish a decree autho- 
rizing the Chambers to modify the Constitution at the next session, and to 
submit such modification to the primary assemblies of the people." Na- 
poleon replied, " With you, Carnot, I have no need of disguise : you are 
a strong-.headed man with satjacious intellect. Let us first save France : 
after that, we will arrange everything. Let us not sow the seeds of dis- 
cord when the closest union is requisite to save the country." Carnot 
acceded to these views, and from that hour offered no opposition to the 
Emperor's temporarily assuming a dictatorial power. 

Caulaincourt at this time made great efforts to open a diplomatic inter- 
course with the allied powers.* This was a matter in which everything 
depended on the success or failure of the first step : for if the allies con- 
sented to any form of negotiation with the Emperor, they would thereby 
virtually recognize his authority and revoke their own decree. But 
Caulaincourt's attempts were ineffectual. " We can have no peace," said 
Alexander : " there is a mortal duel between me and the Emperor Napo- 
leon ; he has broken his word with me. I am freed from my engagement, 
and Europe requires an example." " Europe," said Metternich, " has 
declared war against Bonaparte. France can and should prove to Europe 
that she knows her own dignity too well to submit to the dictation of one 
man. The French nation is powerful and free ; its power and freedom 
are essential to the equilibrium of Europe ; and it has but to deliver itself 
from its oppressor, and return to the principles on which social order 
securely rests." 

Murat first commenced hostilities in the ever memorable campaign of 
1815. Austria, desiring to detach him from Napoleon and preserve peace 
in Italy, had previously offered to procure for him a recognition of his 
title by all the sovereigns represented at Vienna, if he would declare 
for the allies : but, when the infatuated soldier heard of Napoleon's suc- 
cess in France, he thought the time had come to secure, not what the al- 
ii^ offered him, but the sovereignty of the whole Italian Peninsula. 



446 IIISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLVIII. 

He therefore, with little previous notice of his intentions, crossed the Po 
with thirty thousand men, on the 31st of March, and, in an inflated pro- 
clamation, called on the Italians to assert their independence. In the 
outset he gained some slight advantage ; but the Austrian generals. Belle- 
garde, Bianci, and Frimont united their forces and attacked him at To- 
lentino on the 9th of April. His troops were splendidly equipped and, 
on a parade, made as fine an appearance as any soldiers in Europe : but 
they were Neapolitans, and unlike the French veterans whom Murat had 
been accustomed to lead, tliey fled at the very first fire of the Austrian 
battalions, and i-egained their own frontier in the last state of dispersion 
and disorganization. Murat himself, entirely deserted by his army, es- 
caped to Toulon : and the Sicilian family immediately took possession of 
their rightful, and now vacated throne. Their accession was promptly 
recognized by all the sovereigns of Europe. 

On the first of May, Louis La Rochejaquelein made his appearance on 
the coast of La Vendee, and excited a general outbreak in that loyal dis- 
trict. In a short time, no less than twenty thousand men were assembled 
around the Bourbon standard ; and Napoleon, justly alarmed at so serious 
a rising against his authority within the French territory, dispatched 
Generals Lamarque and Travot with a large force to quell the disturb- 
ance. Simultaneously with the movement of these troops, Fouche opened 
a secret negotiation with the royalist leaders in La Vendee. That saga- 
cious minister, foreseeing a second restoration, and having already taken 
measures to secure his own ascendency when it should occur, thus ad- 
dressed the royalists through his emissaries : " Why should the Vende- 
ans go to war ? French blood will soon flow in streams sufficiently large ; 
their's need not be mingled with it. Let them wait a month or two and all 
will be over. Conclude an armistice till the restoration. La Vendee is 
but an incident in the great European war about to break out in the plains 
of Belgium. The contest between the Blues and the Whites is henceforth 
without an object." By these means Fouche hoped to gain credit with 
Napoleon, with the Bourbons, and with the nation : with Napoleon, for 
terminating the strife in La Vendee ; with the Bourbons, for detaching 
twenty thousand men from the standard of Napoleon to check these dis- 
turbances, at the most critical period of his fortunes ; and with the nation, 
for having closed the frightful gulf of civil war. This complex scheme 
of the old policeman was crowned with complete success. One of the 
Vendean leaders, indeed, Auguste La Rochejaquelein, refused to follow 
the suggestions of Fouche and, engaging, with his little band of heroes, 
a greatly superior number of veteran troops, he lost both the battle and 
his life : but the others withdrew from the contest and awaited the pro- 
gress of events. 

The new elections took place in conformity to Napoleon's proclamation, 
but they were in all quarters a mere formality, and by no means indi- 
cated the true state of the public mind. In many departments, not a 
tenth part of the qualified persons came forward to vote : in those of Bou- 
ches du Rhone and La Vendee, the deputies were appointed by five elect- 
ors; and in twenty-nine departments no elections whatever were held. 
The respectable citizens in almost every quarter kept aloof from a politi- 
cal contest directed by such men as Fouche, Carnot, and other violent 
Republicans ; and men of property deemed it unnecessary to meddle with 
an ephemeral legislature, or to make any efforts for or against a cause, 



1815.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 447 

which they conceived would soon be determined by the bayonets of the 
allies. The deputies returned were therefore, for the most part, needy 
and unprincipled adventurers. The new legislature was convened at 
Paris on occasion of the fete of the Champ de Mai, celebrated with great 
pomp in the beginning of June; and, the " Acte Additionel" being then 
and there submitted, was approved by a large majoritj^. 

Still, opinions at Paris were greatly divided ; a formidable opposition 
to the Emperor arose in this very Chamber of Deputies which his indi- 
vidual act had created, and some of his ministers were so deeply impli- 
cated in secret correspondence with his enemies, that he at one time 
resolved to sacrifice them, at whatever risk to his own safety. When the 
old Girondist, Lanjuinais, was chosen president of the chamber, instead of 
Lucien Bonaparte, whom Napoleon had designated, the Emperor deter- 
mined to refuse his confirmation of the appointment : but he afterward 
sent back the committee who brought the announcement, saying, coldly, 
"I will return my answer by one of my chamberlains." This message 
raised a storm in the chamber. To return an answer by a chamberlain, 
was considered a direct insult to the national representatives. At length, 
however. Napoleon, of necessity, submitted to the pleasure of the depu- 
ties, in the matter of their president ; he was moreover unable to control, 
or even to influence the choice of vice-presidents, to which offices M. 
Flarequerguis, Dupont de I'Eure, La Fayette, and Grenier, were seve- 
rally elected. Napoleon opened the sitting of the chamber in person ; 
but his speech, though abundantly liberal, was coldly received. A re- 
view of forty-eight battalions of the National Guard was still more unsatis- 
factory : few cries of " vive I'Empereur" were heard from the ranks ; and 
a procession of the fed^res of the suburbs, so hideous and disorderly that 
it recalled the worst days of the Revolution, followed the march. Every- 
thing, in short, announced that the reign of lawyers and adventurers was 
recommencing in tlie Chambers, and that of Jacobins, massacre and revo- 
lution in the metropolis. 

In the midst of this confusion, the time arrived when it became neces- 
sary for Napoleon to take command of the army. For the direction of 
public affairs during his absence, he appointed a provisional government, 
consisting of fourteen persons, namely : his brother Joseph, president, 
Lucien Bonaparte, Canibaceres, Davoust, Caulaincourt, Fouche, Carnot, 
Goudin, MoUiere, Decres, Regnaud de St. Angely, Boulay de Meurthe, 
Desermont and Merlin. The last four, though not holding office other- 
wise, were admitted to the council by reason of their powers of oratory, 
and the consideration they enjoyed with the popular party. The actual 
power of this council rested in the hands of Fouche and Carnot, as they 
alone were really in communication with the influential parties of the 
country. Napoleon well knew both the power and the treachery of 
Fouclu';, but he did not venture to dismiss or punish him. Just before his 
departure, however, he gained some information relative to a secret dis- 
patch from Metternich to the minister of police ; and the messenger who 
conveyed it, having been arrested, revealed various important details of 
the correspondence. Napoleon ordered Fouche to be sent for, charged 
him, before the council, with being a traitor, and declared that he should 
be shot the next morning. Carnot coolly replied to this threat, "You can 
shoot Fouche to-morrow, but when he dies, your own power is annihilated." 
" How so ?" demanded Napoleon. <' This, sire," said Carnot, " is no time 



448 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLVIII. 

for dissembling. The men of the Revolution allow you to reign, only 
because they believe that you will respect their rights. If you destroy 
Fouche, whom they regard as one of their surest guarantees, you will 
lose their support and cease to reign." Here, again, Napoleon was forced 
to yield ; but, before leaving Paris, he said to Fouche, " Like all other 
persons who are ready to die, we have nothing to conceal from each other : 
if I fall, the patriots fall too; you will play your game ill, if you betray 
me. Your party will perish under the rule of the Bourbons: I am your 
last dictator — remember that." 

Wellington, after careful deliberation, resolved to invade France di- 
rectly from Flanders, between the Maine and the Oise ; but in order to 
conceal his design, he recommended that the Austrians and Russians 
should first cross the French frontier by Befort and Huningen, and when 
this was accomplished, that the British and Prussians united, should march 
upon Paris by Mons and Namur. He had eighty thousand men under his 
orders, and Blucher had a hundred and ten thousand. The British army 
was composed of forty-six thousand native troops, fourteen thousand vete- 
rans of Brunswick and Hanover, and twenty thousand fresh levies, en- 
tirely inexperienced, from Hanover and Belgium. Blucher's forces were 
principally veterans, of one nation, inspired with the strongest hatred 
against the French, and filled with confidence in themselves and their 
commander. 

Napoleon's plan of campaign was based on the necessities of his situ- 
ation, and the great advantages likely to result from a decided success 
in the outset. He had a hundred and twenty thousand men under his 
immediate command, all chosen veterans, whom the peace of Paris had 
liberated from the various countries with which France had been at war, 
and he resolved to interpose this force between the British and Prussian 
armies, and defeat them in detail, before their junction should render them 
invincible. 

On the 2nd of June, Soult was appointed major-general of the army ; 
and when he took the command, he issued a proclamation that contrasted 
strangely with the one he had, but three months previously, promulgated 
as Minister at War to the Bourbons. Napoleon left Paris at one o'clock 
in the morning of the 12th of June, breakfasted at Soissons, slept at Laon, 
and arrived at Avesnes on the 13th. He found his army concentrated 
between the Sambre and Philipville, and the returns, on the evening of 
the 14th, gave a hundred and twenty-two thousand men present, under 
arms. The camp was placed behind some small hills, a league from the 
frontier, in such a situation as to be screened from the view of an ap- 
proaching enemy. The arrival of the Emperor raised the spirit of the 
soldiers to the very highest pitch ; and of this army it may be truly said, 
they were firmly resolved to conquer or to die. 

Wellington and Blucher were now acting on secret intelligence which 
they had received from Fouche. The most vigorous measures had been 
adopted by Napoleon to prevent any communication from crossing the 
frontier : yet Wellington knew, on the 6th of June, that Napoleon was 
expected to be in Laon that day ; and, in consequence, he issued orders to 
declare Antwerp, Ypres, Tournay, Ath, Mons and Ghent in a state of 
siege the moment that the enemy should cross the frontier. On the 10th, 
the British commander received information — but it proved to be prema- 
ture — that Napoleon had, on the preceding day, reached Maubeuge with 



1815.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 449 

his troops : yet, despite the supposed proximity of such a leader at the 
head of such an army, neither Blucher nor Wellington took any steps to 
concentrate their forces ; and when the French troops crossed the fron- 
tier near Fleurus on the 15th, Wellington's men lay in cantonments from 
the Scheldt to Brussels, and Blucher's extended as far as Namur. This 
extraordinary inactivity would be both indefensible and inexplicable, but 
for the account of the matter given by Fouche in his own memoirs. 

That unparalleled intriguer, who had been in constant communication 
with Wellington and Metternich ever since Napoleon's return from Elba, 
had promised to furnish the British commander not only with information 
as to the precise moment when the French would commence hostilities, 
but also with a detailed plan of the campaign. Wellington therefore was 
in hourly expectation of this intelligence, and quietly awaited its arrival. 
Why he did not receive it, Fouche himself has said : " My agents with 
Metternich and Lord Wellington had promised everything, and the Eng- 
lish general at least expected I would give him the plan of the campaign. 
I knew that Napoleon would attack the British army on the 16th, or, at 
latest, on the 18th, after having marched right over the Prussians. He 
had the greater reason to expect success, inasmuch as Wellington, de- 
ceived by false reports, believed that the opening of the campaign might 
be deferred till the beginning of July. Napoleon, therefore, trusted to a 
surprise, and I arranged my plans in conformity. On the day of his de- 
parture, I dispatched Madame D with notes, written in cipher, con- 
taining the whole plan of the campaign : but at the same time, I sent such 
orders to the frontier as would prevent her reaching Wellington's head- 
quarter^ until after the catastrophe. This is the true explanation of the 
generalissimo's inactivity, which, at the time, excited such universal as- 
tonishment." 

The French army crossed the frontier at daybreak on the 15th, and 
moved upon Charleroi. The Prussian force, which occupied that town, 
evacuated it as the French approached, and retired to Fleurus. Thus, 
Napoleon's first object, that of taking his enemy by surprise, was accom- 
plished, and he now confidently expected to separate the two allied armies. 
For this purpose, he dispatched Ney with the left wing, forty-six thousand 
strong, to Qualre-Bras, a point of intersection of the roads from and to 
Brussels, Nivelles, Charleroi and Namur ; while he himself, with seventy- 
two thousand men, pushed on toward Fleurus to assail Blucher, who was 
concentrating his army with all possible haste, and falling back upon 
Ligny. Wellington received intelligence of these movements at Brussels 
on the evening of the 15th, and he immediately sent orders to his troops 
to concentrate at Quatre-Bras. 

Blucher's army, excepting the fourth corps which had not yet come up, 
arrayed themselves, on the 16th, on the heights between Brie and Som- 
bref, and strongly occupied the villages of St. Amand and Ligny in front. 
The position was well chosen. The villages afforded an excellent shelter 
to the troops, while the artillery, placed on a semicircular ridge between 
them, commanded the entire field, and the elevation in the rear, sur- 
mounted by the windmill of Bussy, formed a good rallying point in case 
of disaster. Blucher's force, in the absence of his fourth corps, amounted 
to eighty thousand men, and Napoleon's, as already mentioned, was 
seventy-two thousand strong. The orders of Napoleon to Ney required 
that marshal to move early in the morning, and occupy Quatre-Bras be- 
P 



450 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLVIII. 

fore the British army could assemble there, and thence march with half 
of his men upon Brie, so as to fall on the Prussian rear. His own attack 
in front was to be delayed until he heard Ney's guns in the direction of 
Brie ; he therefore waited impatiently, with his army prepared for battle, 
until three o'clock in the afternoon : but up to that hour not a sound was 
heard from the i-ear, although a loud and increasing cannonade in the 
direction of Quatre-Bras, told clearly that a desperate engagement was 
there in progress. 

At four o'clock Napoleon, fearing that Blucher's fourth corps, under 
Bulow, would arrive, gave signal for battle. He made the first demon- 
stration against St. Amand on his left, and this village, after a vigorous 
resistance, was carried by the Fi-ench troops under Vandamme. While 
Blucher's attention was drawn to this point, Napoleon's centre, thirty 
thousand strong, advanced suddenly upon Ligny and commenced a furious 
assault. The action was here contested with the most determined obsti- 
nacy. Three times successively the French grenadiers carried the vil- 
lage, and three times the Prussians regained it at the point of the bayonet. 
Each column of attack was constantly reen forced, and at length the 
combat became so desperate, that neither party could drive back its an- 
tagonist, but the men fought hand to hand in the streets and houses with 
unconquerable resolution. At seven o'clock, the action was yet unde- 
cided, and Blucher, in the meantime, had retaken a part of the village of 
St. Amand. 

Blucher's reserves were at length all engaged, and his situation became 
critical ; for the attack of the French centre continued with undiminishing 
spirit, and neither Bulow's corps on the one flank, nor the British succors 
on the other, had arrived to take part in the struggle. Indeed, the leaders 
on both sides began to look eagerly for reenforcements, for Napoleon at 
this time, declared that the fate of France depended on Ney's obeying the 
ordei's he had received. Soon after seven, D'Erlon appeared on the 
extreme Prussian right with a part of Ney's force ; and Napoleon, now 
entirely relieved, brought forward his reserve for a decisive attack on the 
centre. Milhaud's cuirassiers advanced at a gallop, brandishing their 
sabres in the air ; the artillery under Drouet rapidly followed, and behind 
them came a delise column of the Old Guard. This attack, supported 
by D'Erlon's charge on the Prussian right, proved decisive: Blucher's 
infantry began to retire ; the village of Ligny fell into the hands of the 
French, and in the confusion of a retreat, commenced just as night over- 
.sprcad the field, the Prussians abandoned several pieces of artillery. 
Blucher himself, as he was leading on a body of cavalry to cover his re- 
tiring columns, had his horse shot under him, and he lay entangled with 
his dying steed, while two charges of the French cuirassiers were made 
and repulsed over the spot where he fell. The French loss in this battle 
was nearly seven thousand men, and that of the Prussians fifteen thou- 
sand, besides four standards and twenty-one pieces of cannon. 

A desperate action had, in the meantime, been fought at Quatre-Bras. 
About twenty thousand British troops, in obedience to Wellington's orders, 
were already assembled at this point, when Ney approached with his en- 
tire corps, forty-six thousand strong. Had the French marshal attacked 
with his whole force, he must inevitably have gained a decided victory ; 
but, in conformity to orders, as already related, he detached more than 
half his troops under D'Erlon to the aid of Napoleon at Ligny, and 



1815.] HISTORY OF EUROPE. 451 

thereby, for the time, reduced his army to nearly the same number as the 
allies who opposed him. The battle of Quatre-Bras continued until 
nightfall, when Ney retreated to Frasnes, one mile in the rear, and the 
British, wearied with marching and fighting throughout the day, did not 
pursue, but bivouacked on the field. The British loss in this action was 
five thousand two hundred men, and that of the French, four thousand 
one hundred. No guns and few prisoners were taken on either side ; 
and the fact that the victors suffered more than the vanquished, was 
owing to the want of artillery on the part of the former : for, as the Brit- 
ish hastened to Quatre-Bras by a forced march, their guns could not be 
brought forward in time to take part in the combat. 

During the night of the 16th, intelligence reached Wellington of the 
defeat of the Prussians at Ligny, and of their retreat on Wavre. As 
this retrograde movement of his allies exposed the flank of his columns, 
which were now advanced to Quatre-Bras, he ordered a retreat through 
Genappe to Waterloo. Napoleon followed with the principal part of 
his army, and took post nearly opposite to the British lines on both sides 
of the high road leading from Charleroi to Brussels. He had detached 
thirty-one thousand men under Grouchy to observe Blucher, who was 
moving toward Wavre ; and this deduction, with the losses in the actions 
of the preceding day, reduced his entire force to eighty thousand men. 
Wellington's troops, also reduced by the action at Quatre-Bras, and by 
a detachment sent to Hal, were not more than seventy-two thousand 
strong ; they were also inferior to the enemy in artillery and, on the whole, 
in their quality as soldiers ; for the British guns amounted to but a hun- 
dred and eighty-six, while the French had two hundred and fifty-two ; 
and the British army was in part composed of fresh Hanoverian and Bel- 
gian levies, while Napoleon's men were all native veterans, accustomed 
to act together and habituated to victory. 

The field of Waterloo, rendered immortal by the battle now about to 
take place, extends nearly two miles in length, from the chateau, garden, 
and inclosures of Hougoumont on the right, to the extremity of the hedge 
of La Haye Sainte on the left. The great road from Brussels to Char- 
leroi runs through the centre of the field, something less than three-quar- 
ters of a mile south of the village of Waterloo, and three hundred yards 
in front of the farm-house of Mont St. Jean. The British army occupied 
the crest of a range of low hills crossing the high road at right-angles, 
two hundred yards in the rear of the farm-house of La Haye Sainte, 
which adjoins the road. The French troops, at the opposite side of the 
valley, were posted along a corresponding line of hills, stretching on either 
side of the hamlet of La Belle Alliance. The summit of these hills af- 
forded an excellent position for the French artillery ; but their attacking 
columns, while marching into the valley and ascending from it, would 
necessarily be exposed to a severe cannonade from the British batteries. 

Wellington had stationed General Hill with seven thousand men at Hal, 
six miles on the right, to cover the road from Mons to Brussels ; and he 
dispatched letters to Louis XVIII. at Ghent, early on the morning of the 
18th, recommending that monarch to retire to Antwerp, if the enemy's 
approach should expose him to any danger. Blucher, during the night 
of the 17th, sent word to Wellington that he would be at Waterloo, not 
only with the two corps, which the British commander had requested, but 
with his whole army : he further promised to arrive on the ground by one 
P2 



452 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLVIII. 

o'clock in the afternoon, and fall on the French flank after the battle was 
fully begun. 

The allied army was drawn up in the following order : General Byng's 
brigade of Guards occupied the chateau, walled garden, and wood of 
Hougoumont ; a battalion of the King's German Legion was posted at the 
farm-house of La Haye Sainte ; the divisions of Picton and Chiton lay on 
the left of La Haye Sainte, and Cole's division with the Hanoverians, 
Brunsv/ickers, and Belgians stood in the centre. The cavalry was in the 
rear ; and the artillery was placed along the whole front, and so disposed 
as to command the open field between the two armies. The French can- 
non were in like manner placed on the summits of the opposite ridge, 
distant nearly three-quarters of a mile from the allied line. D'Erlon 
commanded on the French right ; Reille and Foy, in the centre ; and Je. 
rome on the left in front of Hougoumont. Ney had direction of the 
reserve and the Old Guard in the rear. 

The village clock of Nivelles was striking eleven, when the first gun 
was fired from the French centre, and a quick rattle of musketry followed 
as Jerome, with a column six thousand strong, advanced upon the inclo- 
sures of Hougoumont. The English light troops fought bravely in the 
wood where they were posted, and, though gradually driven back, con- 
tested every tree and bush in their route. The assailants at length car- 
ried the wood around the chateau ; but the garden and the chrueau itself 
were successfully defended against every attack, although a battery of 
howitzers played with such effect on the building, that it finally took fire 
and burned to the ground. 

While this contest was at its height, a dark mass appeared through the 
opening of a wood in the direction of St. Lambert. The glasses of the 
officers were immediately turned in that direction: "I think," said Soult, 
"it is five or six thousand men ; probably a part of Grouchy's corps." 
Napoleon thought otherwise : he did not for an instant doubt that the troops 
were Prussians. Three thousand horse were detached to observe this 
corps, two divisions of infantry followed, and an order was soon after 
dispatched to Grouchy, requiring him to make all possible haste toward 
Waterloo. The cannonade now became animated along the whole line ; 
and Ney was directed to lead twenty thousand men from the right and 
centre against the farm-house of La Haye Sainte and the troops on its left, 
in order to force back the British left wing and interpose between it and 
the Prussians, who remained stationary in the wood where they were first 
discovered. It was now noon. Ney pushed forward his batteries to the 
most advanced heights on the French side of the field, and his troops 
marched to the attack in four columns : D'Erlon's men on the right moved 
against the hedge of La Haye Sainte, Ney led the centre upon the farm- 
house, and large masses of cavalry followed to improve any advantage 
gained by the infantry and artillery. 

Wellington made immediate preparations to resist this formidable move- 
ment. He ordered up Sir William Ponsonby's brigade of horse, consisting 
of the Scotch Grays, Queen's Bays, and Enniskillens, to the rear of 
Picton's division, and stationed Vandeleur's brigade of light cavalry on the 
left. A Belgian brigade formed the first line, but this speedily gave way 
before the French onset ; and D'Erlon's troops, bravely sustaining a heavy 
discharge of musketry and artillery, pressed on until they came within 
twenty yards of the British line. Here they halted; and, for a lime, a 



1815.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 453 

murderous fire was maintained on both sides. Picton presently directed 
Pack's brigade, from the rear, to fall upon the French line, which it did 
with such impetuosity that the enemy broke and recoiled in great disorder. 
At this moment, Picton was shot dead with a musket ball, and Kempt, 
taking the command, ordered a charge of cavalry on D'Erlon's retreating 
column. The shock of this charge was irresistible: in a few seconds the 
whole mass was pierced through, the soldiers fell on their faces and called 
for quarter, and two thousand prisoners, with two eagles, were taken. 
Ponsonby's victorious cavalry, supported by Vandeleur's light horse, next 
rushed on a battery of D'Erlon's guns, consisting of twenty-four pieces, 
and carried them almost instantly ; and, still pressing forward, they attacked 
a third line of artillery and lancers, and again they were triumphant. 
Napoleon, who anxiously watched this onset, exclaimed to Lacoste, his 
Belgian guide, " How terribly those gray horsemen fight !" He then com- 
manded Milhaud's cuirassiers to charge Ponsonby's brigade ; and these 
fresh troops, clad in steel armor, readily overthrew the now exhausted 
cavalry. Ponsonby himself was killed in the retreat, and hardly a fifth 
part of his men regained their lines ; but a similar body of horse has sel- 
dom achieved such success on the field : for they not only destroyed a 
column five thousand strong and made two thousand prisoners, but they 
carried and rendered useless for the remainder of the day no less than 
eighty pieces of cannon. 

In this contest, Ney lost all his artillery ; one of his columns was 
destroyed, and another driven back in confusion. Napoleon, however, 
ordered forward fresh columns from the centre, and the farm-house of 
La Haye Sainte was enveloped by twenty thousand men. The Hanove- 
rians of the King's German Legion, three hundred and eighty in number, 
maintained themselves for a time against this overwhelming host, but the 
gates were at last forced open and the men nearly all put to death. Having 
thus carried the advanced post of the British position, Napoleon ordered 
Ney to move forward his columns, supported by a brigade of cuirassiers, 
against the centre. The strife now recommenced with great fury ; but at 
length the French infantry were entirely repulsed, and the cuirassiers 
destroyed almost to a man. Nevertheless, Napoleon would not yet aban- 
don his project of breaking the British centre ; he therefore ordered his 
light cavalry to renew the attack, and such was the ardor of the French 
horsemen, many of the reserve brigades followed without orders, and in a 
short time all the Emperor's cavalry and cuirassiers precipitated them- 
selves upon the allied lines. The British infantry, formed in squares, 
received the charge of twelve thousand Imperial horse without wavering; 
and they steadily repelled every attempt of the cuirassiers to disorder 
their ranks, while a storm of musketry from the centre of those immovable 
squares swept off their frantic assailants with a frightful slaughter. 

During this terrible struggle in front of Mont St. Jean and around La 
Haye Sainte, Blucher was pressing forward toward the field of battle ; 
but the bad state of the roads so impeded his route, that Bulow, who led 
the advanced guard, did not emerge from the wood until half-past four 
o'clock. Then, however, he appeared at the head of sixteen thousand 
men, who, marching in echelon, fell with their front and centre perpen- 
dicularly on the French flank. As it was o!" vital consequence to Napo- 
leon to prevent the confusion that must ensue from any disaster in this 
quarter, he sent forward two powerful detachments of the Young and Old 

Pa 



454 ' HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XL VIII., 

Guard ; and after some desperate fighting Bulow was forced back into the 
wood, where he awaited the arrival of Blucher with the main body of the 
Prussian army. 

Although Napoleon had thus for a time secured his flank, he knew that 
it would soon be assailed by a larger force ; he therefore resolved to make 
a final and decisive attack on the British centre before the remainder of 
the Prussians could come up. For this purpose, he divided the Imperial 
Guard into two columns, which, marching from different parts of the field, 
were to unite on the designated point, midway between La Haye Sainte 
and the inclosures of Hougoumont. Reille headed the first column ; Ney, 
the second ; and Napoleon accompanied the latter a part of the way, to 
encourage the men by personal appeals to their courage and loyalty. 

Reille led his column to the attack at a quarter past seven o'clock ; but 
the concentric fire of the British artillery swept down the assailants with 
such slaughter that, though constantly advancing from the rear, they could 
not gain one foot of ground beyond the prescribed range of the British 
guns. Presently, Ney's masses came on at a rapid pace : the veterans 
of Wagram and Austerlitz were there; they had decided every previous 
battle, and no force on earth seemed capable of withstanding them. As 
Ney was cheering them forward, his horse, struck by a cannon shot, fell 
dead under him ; but he bravely continued his course on foot, pointing with 
his drawn sabre toward the enemy's ranks. 

The impulse of this charge was at first irresistible : the artillery drew 
back, and the French grenadiers dashed onward, in full confidence of 
victory, to within forty paces of the British infantry — who, to avoid the 
fire of Napoleon's cannon, were lying on their faces, by the side of the 
road that runs along the summit of the ridge. " Up. Guards, and at them/" 
cried Wellington, at this critical instant. The British soldiers sprang to 
their feet, poured in one deadly volley upon the advancing column, and 
rushed forward with levelled bayonets. The Imperial Guard hesitated — 
wavered — broke — and a squadron of British dragoons, following up the 
charge of the victorious infantry, drove the disordered mass headlong down 
the hill. 

From morning till night of this eventful day, the British squares had 
stood as if rooted to the earth, enduring every loss and repelling every 
attack with unparalleled fortitude : but the hour of victory came at 
last. As Ney's broken column fled toward the valley, Wellington caught 
sight of Blucher's standards in the wood beyond Ohain, and he at once 
commanded all his troops to advance in the order in which they stood ; 
the British in line, four deep; the Germans and Belgians, partly in col- 
umn and partly in square. At the same moment, Bulow's and Zeithen's 
corps of Prussians, thirty-six thousand strong, emerged entirely from the 
wood, and pressing on in double-quick time, joined the attack. Despair 
now seized upon the French soldiers : they saw that all was lost, and 
horse, foot, and artillery, fled tumultuously to the rear. 

Napoleon had intently, though with perfect calmness, watched the pro- 
gress of Ney's column, as it rushed up the hill for the final charge ; but 
when his veteran Guards faltered and, in the next instant, the British 
cavalry swept through their ranks, he turned deadly pale, and remarked 
to the guide, " They are mingled together !" The rapid approach of the 
British and Prussian cavalry soon rendered it necessary for him to retire ; 
and he turned to Bertrand, saying, " It is all over for the present. Let 



1815] H I S T R Y F E U R P E . 455 

us save ourselves!" He then fled across the fields in great haste, accom- 
panied only by a few followers. Meantime, the Old Guard, disdaining 
to retreat, threw themselves into four large squares, and strove to stem 
the tide of disorder. But their heroic efforts were vain. The British 
cavalry charged their flanks ; the mass of French fugitives overwhelmed 
their front and prevented their firing, and in a kw minutes they were 
broken, cut down, and made prisoners, with their generals Duhesme, 
Lobau and Cambronne. All resistance now ceased, and Blucher ordered 
every man in his army to join the pursuit, which continued during the 
whole night. Nine several times the exhausted French soldiers tried to 
form bivouacs, but each time they were roused by the Prussian trumpets 
and forced to continue their flight : the greater part of the foot soldiers 
threw away their arms, and the cavalry, entirely dispersed, rode for life 
across the country. 

While this terrible battle was in progress, Marshal Grouchy had been 
engaged with Thielman's Prussians, in the neighborhood of Wavre. At 
noon-day, he distinctly heard the cannon of Wellington's and Napoleon's 
armies, and he was strongly urged by his officers to hasten to Waterloo ; 
but his orders were precise, and he refused to move. At five o'clock, 
however, a dispatch was brought to him from Soult, enjoining him to 
march upon St. Lambert, where Bulow's corps had assumed a menacing 
attitude ; but it was then too late to render any efficient aid to Napoleon. 
In the morning of the 19th, he received intelligence of the Emperor's 
defeat, accompanied by an order to fall back on Laon, which he accord- 
ingly did, with his entire force, thirty-two thousand strong. 

The loss of the allies in the battle of Waterloo was about twenty thou- 
sand men ; and that of the French — in killed, wounded, prisoners, and 
deserters — at least forty thousand, including two hundred and twenty-five 
pieces of cannon : indeed, after the troops had crossed the Sambre and 
regained their own country, they became desperate, sold their arms and 
horses, and dispersed to such a degree that they could never again be 
assembled together in the field. 

Napoleon reached Paris at four o'clock in the morning of the 21st of 
June. He immediately sent for Caulaincourt, but his agitation was so 
extreme that he could hardly speak. " The army," said he, " has per- 
formed prodigies, but a sudden panic seized the men and all is lost. Ney 
conducted himself like a madman. I can do no more. I must have a 
warm bath and two hours of repose, before I can attend to business." 
After he had taken the bath he became more collected, and spoke with 
anxiety of the Chambers — insisting that a dictatorship alone could save 
the country, and saying that although he would not seize it, he hoped the 
Chambers would offer it to him. " I have no longer an army," he added; 
" they are but a set of fugitives : I may find men, but how shall I arm 
them ? I have no muskets. Nothing but a dictatorship can save the 
country." The Deputies, however, had resolved on a different policy. 
Carnot and Lucien urged a dictatorship ; but Fouche, La Fayette, Dupin 
and other leaders of the popular party entered into a coalition to establish 
the absolute sovereignty of the National Assembly. " The House of Rep- 
resentatives," said La Fayette, " declares that the independence of the na- 
tion is menaced. The Chamber declares its sittings permanent. Every 
attempt to dissolve it is declared high treason. The National Guards 
have, for six-and-twenty years, preserved the internal peace of the country 



456 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLVIII. 

and the persons of its representatives; and the means of increasing the 
numbers of that force must be now considei'ed." This resolution was 
carried by acclamation, whereupon Lucien accused La Fayette of ingrat- 
itude to Napoleon. " I wanting in gratitude to Napoleon !" exclaimed 
La Fayette, indignantly: "do you know what we have done for him? 
Have you forgotten that the bones of our brothers and our children every- 
where attest our fidelity to him — amid the sands of Africa — on the shores of 
the Guadalquiver and the Tagus — on the banks of the Vistula, and in 
the frozen deserts of Muscovy ? Three millions of Frenchmen have per- 
ished for one man, who still wishes to fight the combined powers of Eu- 
rope. We have done enough for Napoleon ; let us now try to save our 
country." 

A commission of five of Napoleon's political opponents was appointed, 
to confer with two committees from the Peers and Council of State on the 
measures required by the emergency ; and, after a brief adjournment, the 
Chamber resumed its sittings in the evening. The call for Napoleon's 
abdication now became universal. " I propose," said General Solignac, 
that a committee wait on the Emperor for his immediate decision." "Let 
us delay an hour," cried Lucien. " An hour, but no more," replied So- 
lignac." " If the answer is not returned at that time," said La Fayette, 
" I will move for his dethronement." 

When Lucien went with this commission to Napoleon, he found him 
in the utmost agitation, debating with himself, whether to commit suicide 
or to dissolve the Chambers by force. Lucien told him distinctly, that he 
must either abdicate, or dismiss the Chambers and seize the supreme power; 
and recommended him to adopt the latter course. On the other hand, 
Maret and Caulaincourt advised the abdication. " The Chamber," said 
Napoleon, " is composed of Jacobins, of madmen, who vvish for power and 
disorder : I ought to have denounced them and drove them from their 
places. Dethrone me ! They dare not do it !" " In an hour," replied 
Regnaud de St. Angely, " your dethronement, on the motion of La Fay- 
ette, will be irrevocably pronounced : they have given you only an hour's 
grace — do you hear? Only an hour." Napoleon turned to Fouche and 
said with a bitter smile, " Write to the gentlemen to keep themselves quiet: 
they shall be satisfied." Fouche wrote accordingly, that the Emperor 
was about to abdicate, and the intelligence excited the liveliest joy among 
the Deputies. The abdication was presently drawn and signed b}' Na- 
poleon, in these words : " In commencing the war to sustain the national 
independence, I counted on the union of all efforts, of all inclinations, and 
of all the public authorities. I had good reason to hope for success, and 
I braved all the declarations of the allied powers against me. Circum- 
stances now appear to be changed, and I offer myself as a sacrifice to the 
hatred of the enemies of France. May they prove sincere in their de- 
clarations, and direct their hostility against myself alone ! My political 
life is ended; and I proclaim my son Emperor of the French with the title 
of Napoleon the Second. The existing ministers will form the council 
of government. The interest which I feel for my son mduces me to in- 
vite the Chambers to appoint a regency without delay. Let all unite for 
the public safety and the maintenance of the national independence." 

A stormy scene ensued in the Chamber of Peers when Lucien, Labe- 
doyere, and Count Flahault advocated the claim of the young Napoleon. 
Davoust read an exaggerated report on the military resources of France, 



1815.] H I S T^0 R Y F E U R P E . 457 

and Carnot commenced a set speech based on Davoust's statements, when 
Ney, who had just arrived from Waterloo, rushed in and interrupted him: 
" That is false ! it is all false !" said he. " The enemy is everywhere 
victorious. We can never again collect sixty thousand men. Welling- 
ton is at Nivelles with eighty thousand, and Blucher is following with as 
many more : in six or seven days they will be at our gates." Neverthe- 
less, Lucien and his partisans proclaimed Napoleon the Second, and en- 
deavored to gain the votes of the Peers in his favor ; but the members 
adopted a middle course, and appointed Fouche, Caulaincourt, Quenett, 
Carnot and Grenier, to carry on the government. 

The affairs of France, however, were not to be decided by debates in 
the Chambers : an overwhelming foreign force was at hand, and every- 
thing depended on negotiation with the allied generals, and on the meas- 
ures that might be undertaken to defend the capital. Carnot made great 
exertions to strengthen the defence of Paris on the left bank of the Seine, 
and in a speech, on the 2nd of July, endeavored to show that resistance was 
yet practicable. But Soult and Massena declared that the city could not 
be defended ; and a commission of all the marshals and military men in 
the capital, to whom the matter was referred, unanimously pronounced a 
similar decision. A capitulation was, therefore, concluded with the allied 
generals on the 3rd of July, which stipulated that the French troops should, 
on the 4th, commence the evacuation of Paris : that they should carry 
with them their arms, artillery, caissons and personal effects : that within 
eight days, they should be withdrawn to the south of the Loire : that pri- 
vate and public property, except that of a warlike character, should be 
preserved sacred. The terms of the capitulation embraced many other 
points, and among them was this, which acquired a painful interest by the 
event that followed : " Individual persons and property shall be respected ; 
and, in general, all persons at present in the capital, shall continue to en- 
joy their rights and liberties, without being disquieted or prosecuted in 
regard to the functions they exercise or may have exercised, or to their 
political opinions or conduct." On the 7th of July, the allied armies took 
possession of Paris, entering by the barrier of Neuilly : the British en- 
camped in the Bois de Boulogne, and the Prussians bivouacked in the 
churches, on the quays, and along the principal streets. On the 8th, Louis 
XVIIL, who had followed in the rear of the British army from Ghent, 
made his public entrance into the capital, escorted by the National Guard. 

The allied sovereigns had already determined, that they would no 
longer recognize Napoleon as a crowned head, nor suffer him to remain 
in Europe; and that his residence, wherever it was, should be under such 
supervision and restriction, as effectually to prevent his again breaking 
loose to desolate the world. He was himself anxious to embark for 
America, and the provisional government did everything in its power to 
facilitate his journey. After a melancholy sojourn of six days at Mal- 
maison, Napoleon set out for Rochefort with a train of carriages, contain- 
ing whatever valuables he could collect from the palaces within his reach, 
and arrived at that port on the 3rd of July. But he found that the block- 
ade of the English cruisers was too vigilant to permit his escape from 
Rochefort by sea ; and, after ten days of vacillation, during which every 
possible project for flight was canvassed, he resolved to throw himself on 
the generosity of the British government. He therefore, on the 13th of 
July, sent to Captain Maitland, of the English frigate Bellerophon, the 



458 HISTORYOFEUROPE. [Chap. XLVIII. 

following letter addressed to the Prince Regent : " Exposed to the factions 
which divide my country, and to tlie hostility of the great powers of 
Europe, I have terminated my political career; and I come, like Themis- 
tocles, to seat myself by the hearth of the British people. I put myself 
under the protection of their laws ; and claim it from your royal highness 
as the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of my 
enemies." On the 14th, he embarked on board the Bellerophon, and was 
received with the honors due to his rank as a general by Captain Maitland, 
who immediately set sail with his prisoner for England. 

Had the British ministers been acting alone in regard to Napoleon, this 
event might have thrown them into great embarrassment — for a more 
touching appeal was never made to the humanity of a great nation. But 
Britain was a single power of a great alliance in which all the parties 
acted together. The ascendency of Napoleon over his ti'oops had recently 
been evinced in a manner so striking, and his disregard for the solemn 
obligation of treaties was so notorious, it was obviously out of the question 
to think of suiTering him to remain in Europe. The English cabinet 
therefore, courteously, but firmly informed him, that the determination of 
the allied sovereigns was final, and that he must be removed to St. Helena. 
Napoleon vehemently protested against this measure, and alleged that 
it was a breach of the understanding on which he had surrendered him- 
self to Captain Maitland : although in fact he made no terms with that 
officer, and had no claim, except on the generosity of the British govern- 
ment. After remaining a fortnight in Plymouth Roads, he was taken on 
board the Northumberland and set sail for St. Helena, where he arrived 
on the 16th of October. 

Paris presented a melancholy aspect after the return of Louis XVIII. 
The charm of the Revolution, even to the Royalists, was gone. Strong 
bodies of infantry and artillery occupied the bridges, and all the principal 
points of the town. Detachments of cavalry patrolled every street, and 
the realit}' of subjugation was present to every eye. Blucher kept aloof 
from tlie court, and haughtily demanded a contribution of a hundred mil- 
lions of francs for the pay of his troops, as Napoleon had done after the 
capture of Berlin. The Prussian soldiers, too, insisted on destroying the 
pillar of Austerlitz, as Napoleon had destroyed the pillar of Rosbach ; 
and Blucher was so bent upon demolishing the bridge of Jena, that he had 
actually run mines beneath its arches. A negotiation ensued between 
him and Wellington on this subject, and the bridge was preserved at last 
only by Wellington's placing a sentinel on it, and declaring that if it were 
blown up, he would consider the act as a rupture with Great Britain, and 
govern himself accordingly. The Prussian officers and soldiers assumed 
a rude and harsh deportment, and beyond the limits of Paris they indulged 
in every kind of pillage — not because they were naturally fierce or un- 
generous, but the opportunity to revenge, in part, the deep injuries their 
country had sustained at the hands of Napoleon, was too tempting to be 
resisted. 

When the allied sovereigns arrived in Paris, they insisted on restoring 
to the several states, whence they had been pillaged by Bonaparte, the 
valuable curiosities and works of art in the Museum of the Louvre. The 
justice of this demand could not be contested : it was only wresting booty 
from the robber. Talleyrand, who had resumed his functions as Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, appealed to the article in the capitulation of Paris, 



1815.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 459 

which guarantied the safety of public and private property : but it was 
justly replied, that these objects of art, seized contrary to the law of na- 
tions, could not be regarded as the property of France. The restitution 
was therefore resolved on and commenced forthwith under the care of the 
British and Prussian troops, who occupied the Place du Carrousel during 
the time of the removal. 

The breaking up of the National Museum was an ominous event to 
France, for the neighboring powers had territories, as well as pictures, to 
reclaim ; and the spirit of conquest and revenge loudly demanded the 
cession of many provinces which had been added by the Bourbon princes 
to the monarchy of Clovis. Austria claimed Lorraine and Alsace ; Spain, 
the Basque Provinces ; Prussia, Mayence, Luxemburg, and the frontier 
districts adjoining her territory; and the King of the Netherlands, all the 
French fortresses on the Flemish boundaries. The negotiations on these 
points were protracted at Paris until late in the autumn ; at length, how- 
ever, in November, 1815, the second treaty of Paris was concluded. 

By this treaty, France was restricted to her limits as they stood in 
1790 ; and therefore lost, of what had been conceded to her by the treaty of 
1814, the fortresses of Landau, Sarre-Louis, Philipville, and Marienburg, 
with their adjacent territories. Versoix, with a small district around it, 
wa"s given to the Canton of Geneva ; the fortress of Huningen was to be 
demolished, and France retained the county of Venaisin, the first conquest 
of the Revolution. Seven hundred millions of francs were to be paid to 
the great allied powers, and one hundred millions to the lesser powers, for 
the expenses of th|^war ; and, in addition to this, one hundred and fifty 
thousand allied troops were to occupy, for a period not less than three nor 
more than five years, all the frontier fortresses of France, from Cambray to 
Fort Louis ; including Valenciennes, Quesnoi, Maubeuge, and Landrecy, 
and to be supported entirely at the expense of the French government. 
The ditTerent powers were also to be indemnified for spoliations suffered 
during the Revolution, to the amount of seven hundred and thirty-five 
millions of francs. Great Britain relinquished her share of the indem- 
nity, amounting to nearly one hundred and twenty-five millions of francs, 
in favor of the King of the Netherlands. 

The allied powers had been irritated beyond endurance at the treachery 
of the whole French army, on the return of Napoleon from Elba ; and 
they insisted peremptorily, that the new government should adopt some 
measures of severity toward the guilty leaders. They at first rendered 
a long list of proscriptions, which was finally reduced to fifty-eight per- 
sons to be banished, and three to be executed. Ney, Labedoyere, and 
Lavalette, were selected for the latter fate ; and were accordingly brought 
to trial and convicted, on the clearest evidence, of high treason. Lava- 
lette was saved by the heroic devotion of his wife, who visited and ex- 
changed dresses with him in prison : but the other two were shot. 

The guilt of Ney was obvious ; and probably the penalty of the law 
was never inflicted on one who more richly deserved his fate ; but another 
question arises : was he not protected by the capitulation of Paris ? An 
article of that compact, as already quoted, declared that all persons then 
in Paris should enjoy their rights and liberties, without molestation for their 
oast political opinions or conduct ; and as Ney was at that time in Paris, 
t cannot be denied that the protection extended to him. It is true, an 
(■xample \\^s required; and equally true that Ney's treason was more 



460 HISTORY OF EUROPE. [Chap. XLVIII. 

flagrant than that of any other man ; but these facts do not justify tlie 
breach of a capitulation. The very time, above all others, for justice to 
interpose, is when public interest or state necessity is urgent on tlie one 
hand, and an unprotected criminal exists on the other. 

Another of the paladins of the French Empire perished not long after, 
under circumstances to which the most fastidious sense of justice can 
take no exception. Murat, tormented with the thirst for power, and eager 
to regain his dominions, was fool-hardy enough to make a descent on the 
coast of Naples, with a few followers, in order to excite a revolt against 
the Bourbon government. He was seized, tried by a military commission, 
and shot. 

Napoleon did not long survive his old companions in arms. Although 
subjected to little restraint in St. Helena, permitted to ride over the island, 
and enjoy a degree of comfort and luxury that bore a striking contrast to 
the severity with which he had treated state prisoners ; his spirit chafed 
against the coercion of being confined at all. Nevertheless, it was indis- 
pensable to the peace of the world, that his escape should be prevented ; 
and his expedition from Elba had shown, that no reliance wliatever could 
be placed on his promises or his treaties. Detention and safe custody 
therefore became unavoidable ; and every comfort, consistent with these ob- 
jects, was afforded him by the British government. He was allowed the 
society of the friends who accompanied him in his exile; he had books in 
abundance to amuse his leisure hours ; saddle-horses were at his com- 
mand ; Champaigne and Burgundy were his daily beverage ; and the bill 
of fare of his table, which Las Cases gives as a proof of the severity of 
the British authorities, would be thought by most persons a sumptuous and 
luxurious provision. If England had acted toward Napoleon as Napo- 
leon did toward his imprisoned enemies, she would have shut him up in a 
fortress and murdered him in cold blood — as the Duke d'Enghein was 
murdered at Vincennes. 

In February, 1821, Napoleon, who had been for some time suffering 
with a cancer in the stomach, grew rapidly worse. He dictated his Will, 
with a great variety of minute bequests, but obstinately refused to take 
medicine. " All that is to happen," said he, " is written down ; our hour 
is marked; we cannot prolong it a moment beyond the limit that fate has 
predestined." At two o'clock on the 3rd of May, he received extreme 
unction, and declared that he died in the Roman Catholic faith. On the 
5th, a violent storm of wind and rain arose, and he expired during its 
greatest fury, uttering the words, '■'■ tHe rf'arm^e." Two singular items 
in his will deserve to be recorded : one was a request, that his body 
" might repose on the banks of the Seine among the people whom he had 
loved so well ;" and the other, a legacy of ten thousand francs to a man 
who had been detected in an attempt to assassinate the Duke of Wellington. 

Napoleon had previously indicated the spot, in St. Helena, in which he 
wished his remains to be deposited. It was a small hollow called Slane's 
Valley, where a fountain, shaded with weeping willows, had long been his 
favorite retreat. He was laid in the coffin with his three-cornered hat, 
military surtout, leather under-dress and boots, as he used to appear on 
the field of battle. The body, after lying in state, was carried to the 
place of interment on the 8th of May, and buried with military honors: 
a stone of great size, but without inscription, covered his grave. 



1840.] HISTORYOFEUROPE. 461 

Time rolled on with its changes. The dynasty of the Restoration proved 
unequal to the task of coercing the desires of the Revolution : a new ven- 
eration arose, teeming with the passions and forgetful of the sufTerincrs of 
former days; the revolt of the barricades, in 1830, restored the tricolor- 
flag, and established a semi-revolutionary dynasty on the French throne, 
England sliared in the convulsion of the period: a change in her consti- 
tution placed the popular party in power ; a temporary alliance, founded 
on political passion, not national interest, united her government with that 
of France ; and, under M. Thiers's administration, a request was made 
by France for the remains of her Emperor. 

England granted the request. The body of Napoleon was conveyed 
to Havre de Grace in the frigate La Belle Poule, and thence transferred 
to Paris. It was interred in the church of the Invalides on the 6th of 
December, 1840 ; and although the weather was intensely cold, six hun- 
dred thousand persons assembled to witness the ceremony. Louis Phi- 
lippe and his court officiated on the occasion ; but nothing awakened such 
deep feeling as a band of the mutilated veterans of the Old Guard who, 
with mournful visages but a military air, attended the remains of their 
beloved chief to his last resting-place. 



THE END, 



APPENDIX. 



TMt. Alison's forty-fiist Chapter, which in the original work follows the campaign of Austerlitz, in 1805, con- 
tains much valuable information combined with many arguments and opinions on which the world is divided. 
It was omitted in the body of this volume bpcause it could not well be abridged, and because, if given entire, it 
would too greatly have interrupted the narrative: it is therefore introduced here in the form of an Appendix and 
precisely in Mr. Alison's own words.] 



THE BRITISH FINANCES, AND MR. PITT S SYSTEM OF FINANCIAL POLICY. 

It would be to little purpose that the mighty drama of the French Revolutionary wars 
was recorded in history, if the mainspring of all the European efforts, the British 
Finances, were not fully e.xplained. It was in their boundless extent that freedom found 
a never-failing stay, in their elastic power that independence obtained a permanent sup. 
port. When surrounded by the wreck of other nations ; when surviving alone the fall 
of so many confederacies, it was in their inexhaustible resources that England found 
the means of resolutely maintaining the contest, and waiting calmly, on her citadel 
amid the waves, the return of a right spirit in the surrounding nations. Vain would have 
been the prowess of her seamen, vain the valor of her soldiers, if her national finances 
had given way under the strain ; and the conquerors of Trafalgar and Alexandria must 
have succumbed in the contest they so heroically maintained, if they had not found in 
the resources of government the means of permanently continuing it. Vain even would 
have been the reaction produced by suffering against the French Revolution : vain the 
charnel-house of Spain and the snows of Russia, if England had not been in a situation 
to take advantage of the crisis ; if she had been unable to aliment the war in the Pe- 
ninsula when its native powers were prostrated in the dust ; and the energies of awak- 
ened Europe must have been lost in fruitless efforts, if the wealth of England had not 
at last arrayed them, in dense and disciplined battalions, on the banks of the Rhine. 

How, then, did it happen that this inconsiderable island, so small a part of the Roman 
Empire, was enabled to expend wealth greater than ever had been amassed by the an- 
cient mistress of the world ; to maintain a contest of unexampled magnitude for twenty 
years ; to keep on foot a fleet which conquered the united navies of Europe, and an 
army which carried victory into every corner of the globe; to acquire a colonial empire 
that encircled the earth, and subdue the vast continent of Hindostan, at the very time 
that it struggled in Spain with the land-forces of Napoleon, and equipped all the armies 
of the North for the liberation of Germany ? The solution of the phenomenon, unex- 
ampled in the history of the world, is without doubt to be in part found in the perseve- 
ring industry of the British people, and the extent of the commerce which they maintained 
in every quarter of the globe ; but the resources thus afforded would have been in- 
adequate to so vast an expenditure, and must have been exhausted early in the struggle, 
if they had not been organized and sustained by an admirable system of finance, which 
seemed to rise superior to every difficulty with which it had to contend. It is there that 
the true secret of the prodigy is to be found ; it is there that the noblest monument to 
Mr. Pitt's wisdom has been erected. 

The national income of England at an early period was very inconsiderable, and totally 
incommensurate to the important station which she occupied in the scale of nations. In 
the time of Elizabeth it amounted only to £400,000 a year, and that of James I, to 
.£450,000; and even including all the subsidies received from Parliament during his 
reign, £480,000 a year: sums certainly not equivalent to more than £800,000, or 



464 APPENDIX. 

i;i,000,000 of our money.* That enjoyed by Charles I. amounted, on an average, to 
£895,000, annually : a sum perhaps equal to £1,500,000 in these times.t 

It was the long parliament which first gave the example of a prodigious levy of money 
from the people in England ; aflbrding thus a striking instance of the eternal truth, that 
no government is so despotic as that of the popular leaders, when relieved from ail con- 
trol on the part of the other powers in the state. The sums levied in Enghnd during 
the Commonwealth, that is, from the 3rd of November, 1640, to the 5th of November, 
1659, amounted to the enormous, and, if not proved by authentic documents, incredible 
sum of £83,000,000, being at the rate of nearly £5,000,000 a year ; or more than five 
times that which had been so much the subject of complaint in the times of the unhappy 
monarch who had preceded it.t The permanent revenue of Cromwell was raised from 
the three kingdoms to £1,868,000 : or considerably more than double that enjoyed by 
Charles I.§ The total public income at the death of Charles II. was £1,800,000, of James 
II. £2,000,000; sums incredibly small, when it is recollected that the price of svheat 
was not then materially different from what it is at the present moment. ||ir 

These inconsiderable taxes, however, were destined to be exchanged for others of a 
very different character, upon the accession of the house of Brunswick to the throne. 
The intimate connexion of the princes of that family with Continental politics, and the 
long wars in which, in consequence, the nation was involved, soon led to a more bur- 
densome system of taxation, and the raising of sums annually from the people which in 
former times would have been deemed incredible. So great was the increase of the 
public burdens during the reign of William, that the national income, in the thirteen 
years that he sat on the throne, was nearly doubled ; being raised from £2,000,000 a year 
to £3,895,000. But the addition made to the public revenue was the least important part 
of the changes effected during this important period. It was then that the National 
Debt began ; and government was taught the dangerous secret of providing for the 
necessities, and maintaining the influence of present times, by borrowing money and 
laying its payment on posterity.** 

Various motives combined to induce the government, immediately after the Revolu- 
tion, to adopt the system of borrowing on the credit of the state. Notwithstanding the 
temporary unanimity with which the Revolution had been brought about, various heart- 
burnings and divisions had succeeded that event, and the exiled dynasty still numbered 
a. large and resolute body, especially in the rural districts, among their adherents. Ex- 

* Hume v., 412. vi., 113. tib.vii., 341. Pebrer,45. 

+ " It is seldom," says Hume, " that the people gain anything by revolutions in government, because the new 
settlement, jealous and insecure, must commonly be supported with more expense and severity than the old; 
but on no occasion was the truth of this maxim more sensibly felt than in England after the overthrow of the 
royal authority. Complaints against the oppression of ship-money, and the tyranny of the star chamber, had 
roused the people to arms, and, having gained a complete victory over the crown, they found themselves loaded 
with a multiplicity of taxes formerly unknown, while scarce an appearance of law and liberty remained in any 
part of the administration."a 

The following are some of the items in this enormous aggregate of £83,000,000 raised from the nation during 
the Commonwealth — a striking proof of the despotic character of the executive during that perii.d: 

Land-tax £32,000,000 

Excise 8,000,000 

Tonnage and poundage 7,600,000 

Sale of church lands 10,035,000 

Sequestrations of bishops, deans, and inferior clergy, for four years 3,528,000 

Sequestrations of private estates in England 4,5fi4,000 

Fee-farm rents for five years 2,9(53,000 

Compositions with delinquents in Ireland 1,000,000 

Sales of estates in Ireland 3,567,000 

Otlier lesser 10,074,000 

Total £83,331,000 

-Pebrer, 139, 140. 

I Of this sum, there was drawn 

from England £1,517,274 

from Scotland 143,652 

from Ireland 207,790 

-Ibid, 140. £1,868,716 

II The quarter of wheat from 1636 to l"0I,was, on an average 51s. Mid. 

from 1700 to 1765 T 40.;. Gd. 

from 1764 to 1794 ; 44^. ^d. 

In 1835. the average of the quarter in Great Britain was 38.?. 8d., and the average of the last five years was only 
48«.— Smith's Wealth of JSTations, i., 358, and Corn Average, 1835. 
1 Pebrer, 139. 143. ** Pebrer, 59, 60. a Hume vii., US. 



APPENDIX. 465 

tensive patronage, and no small share of corruption were necessary to secure the influ- 
ence of government over a nation thus divided : foreign wars were deemed requisite 
to maintain the ascendant of the Protestant principles, to which the king owed his acces- 
sion to the throne, and the Continental connexions of the house of Orange imperiously 
required the intervention of Great Britain in those desperate struggles by which the very 
existence of th'e Commonwealth of Holland was endangered. The same causes which 
led to the dup'ication of the public burdens of France by Louis Philippe after the Rev- 
olution of 1830, produced a similar increase in the taxes of Great Britain after the 
change of dynasty in 1688, and engendered the dangerous system of borrowing on the 
accuiity of the as -essments of future years.* It was justly thought that the present influence 
of government could in this way be increased to an extent altogether impracticable if the 
expenditure of each year were to be limited to the supplies raised within itself; and that, 
by the distribution of the debt among a great number of public creditors, an extensive and 
influential body might be formed, attached by the strong tie of individual interest to the 
fortunes of the ruling dynasty; because they were aware that their claims would be dis- 
regarded by the legitimate monarclis, if restored to the throne. The expedient, there- 
fore, was fallen upon of contracting a debt transferable by a simple power of attorney, 
in the smallest shares, from hand to hand ; and capable of being used almost like the 
highest and most valuable species of bank notes, in the transactions of the nation. To 
the steady prosecution of this system, and the formation of a secure deposite by its 
means for the savings of the nation, much of the subsequent prosperity and grandeur of 
England is to be ascribed : but, like all other human things, it has its evils as well as its 
advantages; and in the perilous facility of borrowing, which the magnitude of the national 
resources and the fidelity with which the public engagements were fulfilled produced, is 
to be found the remote but certain cause of financial embarrassments, now to all appear, 
ance irremediable. 

It is unnecessary to follow the successive steps by which both the public revenue and 
the national debt of Great Britain were increased after this period. Suffice it to say, that 
both were largely augmented during the glorious War of the Succession ; that the long 
and pacific administration which followed effected no sensible reduction in their amount; 
that the checkered contest of 1739, and the more triumphant campaigns of the Seven 
Years' V/ar, contributed equally to their increase ; and that the disasters of the American 
struggle were attended by so great an augmentation of the national burdens, that at its 
termination in 1783, in the opinion of Mr. Hume and Adam Smith, they must inevitably 
prove fatal in the end to the independence of the nation. At the close of the last con- 
test the public revenue was jei2,000,000, and the debt ^0240,000,000,1 the interest of 
which absorbed no less than £9,319,000 of the annual income of the state: the loans 
contracted during the last unfortunate contest having been no less than one hundred 
millions.}; 

* The following is a statement of the budgets of Fiance before and after the Revolution of July. It is a curi- 
ous and instructive object of contemplation, to observe a similar convulsion leading, in countries so widely 
diflerent in their character, customs and institutions, as France and England were at the accessions of the dyoas- 
ties of Orange and Orleans to tlieir respective thrones, to a result so precisely similar : 

Pravcs. 

1824 951,000,000, or about £38.100,000 

1825 946,000,000, or " 37,800,C00 

1826 942.000,000, or " 37,600,000 

1827 986,000,000, or " 38,730,000 

1828 939,100,000, or " 37,300,000 

1829 975,000,000, or " 3^S40,000 

18:30 Revolution in July 981,000,001, or " 38,930,000 

1831 Louis Pliilippe 1,511,000,000, or " 60,000,000 

1832 Do. 1,100,000,000, or " 44.000,000 
1833 1,120.000,000, or " 44,500,000 

— See Stat, de France, published by government. 
t Pebrer, 245. 

X The fiillowing table exhibits, in a clear and condensed form, the increase of the public revenue, and pro- 
gressive growth of the debt, from the Revolution in 1668 to the presetit time : 

Debt. Interest. Public Revenue. 

National debt at the Revolution £664,263 39,865 2,001,885 

Increase during the reign of William 15,730,439 1,271,087 

Debt at the .accession of aneen Anne 16.394.702 1,310,952 3,895,205 

Increase during the reign of Queen Anne 37,750.661 2,040,416 

Debt at the accession of George 1 54,145,363 3,351.368 5,691,803 

Decrease during the reign of George 1 2,053,128 133,807 



466 APPENDIX. 

It was at this period that Mr. Pitt came into office, on the resignation of Mr. Fox and 
the coalition ministry. His ardent and sagacious mind was immediately turned to the 
consideration of the finances, and the means of extricating the nation from the embar. 
rassments, to ordinary observers inextricable, in which it had been involved by the ini- 
provident expenditure of preceding years. It was evident, from a retrospect of history, 
that no sensible impression had been made on the debt by any etforts of preceding times ; 
that though a sinking fund had long existed in name, yet its operations had been very 
inconsiderable ; and that all the economy of the long periods of peace which had inter- 
vened since the Revolution, had done little more than discharge a tenth of the burdens 
contracted in the previous years of hostility. The interest of the debt absorbed now 
more than two-thirds of the public revenue. It was impossible to conceal that such a 
state of things was in the highest degree alarming ; not only as affording no reasonable 
prospect that the existing engagements could ever be liquidated, but as threatening, at 
no distant period, to render it impossible for the nation to make those efforts which its 
honor or independence might require. It was easy to foresee that, in the course of events, 
wars and changes would arise, which would render it indispensable for the government 
to assume a menacing attitude, and possibly engage in a long course of hostilities ; but 
how could any administration venture to assume the one, or the people bear the other, 
if an immense load of debt hung about their necks, absorbing alike by its interest their 
present revenues, and paralyzing by its magnitude the credit by which their resources 
might be increased on any unforeseen emergency ? 

These dangers took strong possession of the mind of Mr. Pitt; but, instead of sink- 
ing in despair under the difficulties of the subject, he applied the energies of his under. 
standing with the greater vigor to overcome them. Nor was it long before he perceived 
by what means this great object could with ease and certainty be effected. The public 
attention at this period had been strongly directed to the prodigious powers of accumu- 
lation of money at compound interest; and Dr. Price had demonstrated, with mathe- 
matical certainty, that any sum, however small, increasing at that ratio, would in a 
given time extinguish any debt, however great.* Mr. Pitt, with the instinctive sagacity 
of genius, laid hold of this simple law to establish a machine by which the vast debt of 
England might without difficulty be discharged. All former sinking funds had failed 
of producing great effects, because they were directed to the annual discharge of a 
certain portion of debt; not the formation, by compound interest, pf a fund destined to 
its future and progressive liquidation ; they advanced, therefore, by addition, not multi- 
plication, in an arithmetical, not a geometrical progression. Mr. Pitt saw the evil, and 
not merely applied a remedy, but more than a remedy ; he not only seized the battery, 
but turned it against the enemy. The wonderful powers of compound interest, the vast 

Debt. Interest. Public Revenue. 

Debt at the accession of George U je52.a_i2.2a5 XS.aT.Sbl £6,762,463 

Decrease during tlie peace 5,137,612 253,526 

Debt at the opening of tlie war, 1739 46,954,623 2,9G4,0S 6,874,000 

Increase during the war 31,338,689 1,096,379 

Debt at the end of the war, 1748 78,293,312 4,061,014 6,923,000 

Decrease during the peace 3,721,472 GiU,^ 

Delit at the opening of the war, 1756 74,571,840 3,396,737 7,127,1^ 

Increase during the war 72.111,004 2.414,104 

Debt at the end of tire war in 1763 146,682,844 5,840.&31 8,523,440 

Decrease during tlie jieace 10,739.793 364,000 

Debt at tJie opening of the American war, 1776 135,943,051 5,476,841 10,265,405 

Increase during the war 102^54131_9 3,8t3,(l84 

Debt .at tlie peace of 1783 238,484,870 9,319,925 U,962.000 

Decrease during tlie peace 4,7.51,261 143,569 

Debt at the opening of the war, 1793 233,733,6'J9 9,176,356 16,658,814 

Increase during the war 295,105,663 10,252,15 2 

Debt.atthepeaceof Amiens, 1st February, 1801 528,839,277 19,428,508 ^113,148 

Increase during the second war 335,983,164 12,796,796 

Debtatthepe.aceof Paris, 1st February, 1816 864,823,441 32,225,304 72,210,512 

Decrease since the peace >-2,155,207 3,883,811 

Debt on the 5th of January, 1832 £782,667,234 £28,311,463 £50,990,000 

— MoREAU and Pebrer's Tables, 70,89,152,245, and Porter's Pari. Tables, i., 1. 
* A penny laid out at compound interest at the lilrth of our Saviour, would in the year 1775 have amounted to 
a solid mass of gold eighteen hundred times the whole weight of the globe. 



APPENDIX. 467 

lever of geometrical progression, so long and sorely felt by debtors, were now to be 
applied to creditors; and, inverting the process hitlierto experienced among mankind, 
the swift growth of the gangrene was to be turned from tiie corruption of the sound to 
tlie eradication of the diseased part of the system. Another addition, like the discovery 
of gravitation, the press, and tlie steam-engine, to the many illustrations which history 
aflords of the lasting truth, that the greatest changes, both in the social and material 
world, are governed by the same laws as the smallest ; and that it is by the felicitous 
application of familiar principles to new and important objects, that the greatest and 
most salutary discoveries in human affairs are efi'ected. 

Mr. Pitt's mind was strongly impressed with the incalculable importance of this sub- 
ject, one before which all wars or subjects of present interest, excepting only the preser. 
vatioii of the Constitution, sunk into insignificance. From the time of his accession to 
office in 17ti4, his attention had been constantly riveted to the subject, and he repeatedly 
expressed, in the most energetic language, his sense of its overwhelming magnitude. 
" Upon the deliberation of this day," said he, in bringing forward his resolutions on the 
subject, on the 29th of March, 178G, " the people of England place all their hopes of a 
full return of prosperity, and a revival of that public security which will give vigor and 
confidence to those commercial exertions on which the flourishing state of the country 
depends. Yet not only the public and this house, but other nations are intent upon it; 
for upon its deliberations, by the success or failure of what is now proposed, our rank 
will be decided among the powers of Europe. To behold this country, when just 
emerging from a most unfortunate war, which had added such an accumulation to sums 
before immense, that it was the belief of surrounding nations, and of many among our- 
selves, that we must sink under it — to behold this nation, instead of despairing at its 
alarming condition, looking boldly its situation in the face, and establishing upon a 
spirited and permanent plan the means of relieving itself from all its encumbrances, 
must give such an idea of our resources as will astonish the nations around us, and 
enable us to regain that preeminence to which, on many accounts, we are so justly 
entitled. The propriety and even necessity of adopting a plan for this purpose is now 
universally allowed, and it is also admitted that immediate steps ought to be taken on 
the subject. It is well known how strongly my feelings have been engaged, not only 
by the duties of my situation, but the consideration of my own personal reputation, 
which is deeply committed in the question, to exert every nerve, to arm every vigilance, 
to concentrate my efforts toward that great object, by which alone we can have a 
prospect of transmitting to posterity, that which we ourselves have felt the want of — an 
efficient sinking fund for the national debt. To accomplish this is the first wish of my 
heart, and it would be my proudest hope to have my name inscribed on a pillar to be 
erected in honor of the man who did his country the essential service of reducing the 
national debt."*t 

In pursuance of these designs, Mr. Pitt proposed that a million yearly — composed 
partly of savings effected in various branches of the public service, to the amount of 
.£900,000, and partly of new taxes, to the amount of JE100,000 — should be granted to 
his majesty, to be vested in commissioners chosen from the highest functionaries in the 
realm ; that the payments to them should be made quarterly ; and that the whole sums 
thus drawn should be by them invested in the purchase of stock, to stand in the name 
of the commissioners, the dividends on which were to be periodically applied to the 
further purchase of stock, to stand and have its dividends invested in the same manner. 
In this way, by setting apart a million annually, and religiously applying its interest to 

* Pari. Hist., xxvi., 12%. 1313, 1109. 

t It is worthy of especial notice, however, that though thus deeply impressed with the paramount importance 
of raising up an eifective sinking fund for the reduction of the pnbhc debt, Mr. Pitt was equally resolute not to 
attempt it by any measure by which the public security might be impaired, and, on the contrary, at the very 
same time strongly advocated and carried a bill for the fortification of Portsmouth and Plymouth, which 
required several hundred thousand pounds. " He who would be seduced," said he, " by the plausible and popu- 
lar name <if economy : he who would not call it only plausible and popular, tie would rather say the sacred 
name of economy, to forego the reality ; and for the sake of adding a few hundred thousand pounds at the out- 
set to the sinking fund, perhaps render for ever abortive the sinking fund itself. Every saving, consistently with 
uatiiinal safety, be would pledge himself to make : but he would never consent to starve the public service, and 
to withhold those supplies, without which the nation must be endangered. "a Every measure of this great man 
was directed to great and lasting national objects ; he was content to impose present burdens, to forego present 
advantages, and incur present unpopularity, for the sake of ultimate pyibJic advantage ; the only principle which 
ever yet led to greatness and honor, either in nations or individuals, as^he opposite system, gilded by present 
popularity or enjoyment, is the certain forerunner of ultimate ruin. 

a Pari. Hist., xxvi, 1109. 



468 APPENDIX. 

the purchase of stock, the success of the plan was secured ; because the future accu- 
mulations would spring, not from any additional burdens imposed on the people, but 
the dividends on the stock, thus bought up from individuals, and vested in the public 
trustees. The powers of compound interest were thus brought round from the side of 
the creditor to that of the debtor — from the fundholders to the nation ; and the national 
debt was eaten in upon by an accumulating fund, which, increasing in a geometrical 
progression, would to a certainty, at no distant period, effect its total extinction.* " If 
this million," said Mr. Pitt, " to be so applied, is to be laid out with its growing interest, 
it will amount to a very great sum in a period that is not very long in the life of an 
individual, and but an hour in the existence of a great nation ; and this will diminish 
the debt of this country so much as to prevent the exigencies of war from raising it to 
the enormous height it has hitherto done. In the period of twenty-eight years, the sum 
of a million, annually improved, would amount to four millions per annum. But care 
must be taken that this sum be not broken in upon. This has hitherto been the bane 
of this country ; for if the original sinking fund had been properly preserved, it can 
easily be proved that our debts at this moment would not have been very burdensome ; 
but this, hitherto, has been found impracticable, because the minister has uniformly, 
when it suited his convenience, gotten hold of this sum, which ought to have been 
regarded as most sacred. To prevent this, I propose that this sum be vested in certain 
dignified commissioners, to be by them applied quarterly to buy up stock ; by which 
means no considerable sum will ever be open to spoliation, and the fund will go on 
without interruption. Long, and very long, has the country struggled under its heavy 
load, without any prospect of being relieved ; but it may now look forward to the 
object upon which the existence of the country depends. A minister could never have 
the confidence to come down to the House and propose the repeal of so beneficial a 
law — of one so directly tending to relieve the people from their burdens. The essence 
of tlie plan consists in the fund being invariably applied in diminution of the debt ; it 
must for ever be kept sacred, and especially so in time of war. To suffer the fund at 
any time, or on any pretence, to be diverted from its proper object, would be to ruin, 
defeat, and overturn the whole plan."tt 

Nor was Mr. Fox behind his great rival in the same statesmanlike and heroic senti- 
ments ; but he pointed out, with too prophetic a spirit, the dangers to which the reserved 
fund might be exposed, amid the necessities or weakness of future administrations. 
" No man," said he, " in existence was, or ever had been, a greater friend to the prin- 
ciple of a sinking fund than I have been from the very first moment of my political life. 
I agree perfectly with the right honorable gentleman in his ideas of the necessity of 
establishing an effective sinking fund for the purpose of applying it to the diminution of 

* The following table will exemplify the growth of capital when its interest, at tlie rate of 5 per cent., is stead- 
ily applied to the increase of tlie principal. Suppose that £20,000,000 is borrowed ; and that, insted 1 of provid- 
ing hy taxes for the interest merely of this larfresum, provision is made fur Xl,200,000 yearly, leaving the surplus 
of ^£200,000 to be annually applied in the purchase of a certain portion of the stock, by commissioners, for the 
reduction of the principal, the dividends on the stock so purchased being annually and progressively employed 
in the same manner. The progressive growth in ten years will stand as follows : 

First year's surplus £200,000 Sixth £253,078 

Seoond 210,000 Seventh 26o,6a4 

Third 220,500 Eighth 278,286 

Fou-th... 231,250 Kinth 292,114 

Fifth 242,562 Tenth 30(5,661 

£2,500,105 

The wonderful rate at which this fund increases must be obvious to every observer, and it is worthy of especial 
notice, tliat this rapid advance is gained without imposing one firthmg additional upon the country, by the 
mere furce of an annual fund, steadily applied year alter year, with all its fruits, to tlie reduction of the princi- 
pal debt, 
t Pari. Hist., xxvi., 1309, 1322. 

X The speech delivered by Mr. I'itt on this occasion, which went over the whole details of our financial system, 
is one of the uiost luminous of his whole Parliamentary career. An intimate friend of his has recorded. " That 
having passed the morning of this most important day in providing and examining the calculations and resolu- 
tions fur the evening, he said he would take a walk to arrange in his mind what was to be said in the House in 
the evening His walk did not last above a quarter of an hour, and when he came back he said he believed he 
was prepared. He then dressed, and desired his dinner to be sent up ; but hearing that his sister and another ladr 
residina; with her in the family, were going to dine with him at the same early hour, he desired tliat they miglit 
dine together. Having passed nearly an hour with those ladies, and several friends who called on their way to 
the House, talking with his usual liveliness and gayety, as if he had nothing on his mind, he then went imme- 
diately to the House of Commons, animade that elaborate and far-extended speech, as ^Ir. Fox called it, with- 
out one omission or error." See No. \. W illiam Pitt, Blackwood's Magazine, xxxvi., 852 : a series of papers 
on the character of this illustrious man, by one of the ablest writers of the age, containing by far the best account 
of liis policy and character extant in any language. 



APPENDIX. 469 

the national debt, however widely I may differ from him as to the subordinate parts of 
the plan. Formerly, the payment of the national debt was effected by a subscription of 
individuals, to whom the faith of Parliament had been pledged to pay off certain specified 
portions, at stated periods. Under that system, when the nation, or when Parliament, 
stood bound to individuals, the pledge was held as sacred as to pay the interest of the 
national debt at present; whereas, under the new system, when no individual interests 
were concerned, nothing would prevent a future minister, in any future war, from com- 
ing down to the House and proposing the repeal of the sinking fund, or enabling govern, 
ment to apply the whole money or stock in the hands of the commissioners to the public 
service. What would prevent the House from agreeing to the proposition ? or was it 
at all likely that, under the exigency of the moment, they would not immediately agree 
to it, when so much money could so easily be got at, and when they could so readily 
save themselves from the odious and unpleasant task of imposing new taxes on them. 
selves and their constituents?"* Memorable words from both these great men! when 
it is recollected how exactly the one predicted the wonderful effects which experience 
has now proved his system was calculated to have produced, in reducing, in a period of 
time smaller than the most ardent imagination could have supposed, a debt double the 
amount of that which he estimated as so great an evil ; and with how much accuracy 
the other pointed out the vulnerable point in its composition, and predicted the cause, 
springing fiom the necessities or weakness of future administrations, which would ulti- 
mately prove its ruin ! 

The bill passed both Houses without a dissenting voice ; and on the 26th of May the 
king gave it the royal assent in person, to mark his strong sense of the public importance 
of the measure. 

The sinking fund thus provided was amply sufficient to have discharged all the exist- 
ing debt within a moderate period : and so well aware was its author of its vast pro- 
ductive powers, that he observed, that when it rose to four millions, it should be 
submitted to Parliament whether it should thenceforth be suffered to increase at com. 
pound interest. But the events which followed, soon not only rendered illusory all 
danger of the debt being too rapidly reduced, but made an addition to the system 
unavoidable to meet the new and overwhelming obligations contracted during the war. 
Some expedient, therefore, was necessary to provide for the liquidation of these vast 
additional debts ; and it was in the means taken to do so that the extensive foresight 
and unshaken constancy of Mr. Pitt are to be discerned. He laid it down as a prin- 
ciple, which was never, on any pretence whatever, to be departed from, that, when any 
additional loan was rontracted for, provision should be made for its gradual liquidation. 
"We ought," said Mr. Pitt, "not to confine our views to the sinking fund, compared 
with the debt now existing. If our system stops there, the country will remain ex- 
posed to the possibility of being again involved in those embarrassments which we 
have in our own time severely experienced, and which apparently brought us to the 
verge of bankruptcy and ruin. To guard against such dangers hereafter, we should 
enact that, whenever any loan shall take place in future, urdess it be raised on annui. 
ties, which will terminate in a moderate number of years, there should, of course, be 
issued out of the consolidated fund,t to the commissioners for the reduction of the 
national debt, an additional sum, sufficient to discharge the capital of such loan in the 
same period as the sinking fund, after reaching its largest amount, will discharge what 
will then remain of the present debt. To do this, one hundredth part of the capital 
borrowed would be sufficient to be raised from the country on such emergencies ; for 
instance, supposing it were necessary to raise by loan ten millions, £100,000 should be 
raised in addition to the existing funds appropriated to the redemption of the debt, in 
order to relieve the country within a given time of this additional burden. In addition 
to this, I propose that £:200,000 a year additional should from this time forward, be 
regularly granted out of the ordinary revenue of the country to the sinking fund." 
Mr. Fox stated, " that he had ever maintained the necessity of establishing a fund for 
reducing the national debt,! and that as strongly when on the ministerial as the oppo- 
sition benches. He had not the power to promote it as effectually as Mr. Pitt, but he 
wished it as warmly." In pursuance of the united opinion of these great men, it was 

* Pari. Hist., xxvi , 1318. 

tThe consolidated fund was a certain portion of the ordinary taxes, which were amassed together and devoted 
to certain fixed olyects of national expenditure. The surplus of this fund, as it was called, or the excess of those 
braHches of revenue above the charges fixed on thera, was annually appropriated, during the war, among the 
ways and means to the current war expenditure. 

t Pari. Hibt., xxix., 1030, 1058. 



470 APPENDIX. 

enacted by the statute passed on the occasion, " that whenever, in future, any sums 
should be raised by loans on perpetual redeemable annuities, a sum equal to one per 
cent, on the stock created by such loan should be issued out of the produce of the con- 
solidated fund quarterly, to be placed to the account of the commissioners."* Every 
additional loan was thus compelled to draw after itself, as a necessary consequence, a 
fresh burden, by the annual payment of which the extinction of the principal might to 
a certainty, in litde more than forty years, be expected. 

Under this system the whole loans were contracted, and the sinking fund was man- 
aged till 1802 ; and as immense sums were borrowed during that period, the growth of 
the sinking fund was far more rapid than had been originally contemplated. In that 
year an alteration of some importance was made, not, indeed, by Mr. Pitt, but by Mr. 
Addington, then chancellor of the Exchequei-, with his consent and approbation. 
" The capital of the debt," said he, " is now £488,000,000 ; its interest, including the 
charges of the sinking fund, ,£23,000,000 : it is impossible to contemplate either the one 
or the other without the utmost anxiety. What I now propose is, that the limitation 
which was formerly provided against the accumulation of the original sinking fund 
should be removed ; and that both that original fund and the subsequent one, created 
by the act of 1792, should be allowed to accumulate till they have discharged the whole 
debt." This proposition was unanimously agreed to ; it being enacted " that this fund 
should accumulate till the whole existing redeemable annuities should be paid ofT." 
By this act, the original sinking fund of i;i,000,000, with the ^00,000 subsequently 
granted, and the one per cent, on all the subsequent loans, were combined into one 
consolidated fund, to be applied continually, at compound interest, till the whole debt 
then existing was paid off, which it was calculated would be in forty. five years.t 

Under these three acts of 1786, 1792, and 1802, the sinking fund continued to be 
administered with exemplary fidelity, not only during Mr. Pitt's life, but after his death, 
till 1813, when a total change in the system took place, which eventually led to its ruin, 
and has, to all appearance, rendered the financial state of the country almost desperate. 
To obtain a clear view of the practical effects of Mr. Pitt's system, it is necessary to 
anticipate somewhat the march of events, and give a summary of the operation of the 
sinking fund which he established down to the period when it was abandoned by his 
more embarrassed and less provident successors. 

From the accounts laid before Parliament, it appears that the sinking fund of a mil- 
lion which Mr. Pitt established in 1786, had increased by accumulation at compound 
interest, and the vast additions drawn from the one per cent, on all subsequent loans, 
to the enormous sum of ff teen millions and a half yearly in 1813, while the debts 
which it had discharged during that period amounted to no less than £238,231,000 ster- 
ling. This great increase had taken place in twenty-seven years, whereas Mr. Pitt had 
calculated correctly that his original million would be only four millions in twenty- 
eight years : the well-known period of the quadruplication of the sum at compound 
interest of 5 per cent. The subsequent £200,000 a year granted, certainly accelerated 
in a certain degree the rate of its advance ; but the true cause of the extraordinary 
and unexpected rapidity of its increase is to be found in the vast accumulation which 
the one per cent, on subsequent loans produced. This distinctly appears from the table 
compiled below, showing the sums paid off by the sinking fund in every year from 
1786 to 1813, the loans contracted during that period, the stock redeemed by the coni- 
missioners, and the proportion of each loan paid to them for behoof of the public debt. 
It thence appears how rapidly and suddenly the sinking fund rose, with the immense 
sums borrowed at different periods during the war ; and when it is recollected that the 
loans contracted from 1792 to 1815 were £585,000,000, it will not appear surprising 
that even the small sum of one per cent, on each, regularly issued to the national debt 
commissioners, should have led to this extraordinary and utdooked-for accumulation. t 

It is this subsequent addition of one per cent, on all loans contracted since the in- 
stitution of the sinking fund which lias been at once the cause of its extraordinary 
increase and subsequent ruin. While the nation in general were entirely satisfied with 
Mr. Pitt's financial statements, and, delighted with the rapid growth of the sinking 
fund, never examined whether the funds for its prodigious extension were provided by 
the fictitious supply of loans or the solid growth of the revenue above the expenditure, 

* 32 Geo. III., c. 69. t Pari. Hist., xxxvi. 890, 892. 

X Table showing the sums paid to the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt in every year, 
from 1786 to 1816; the stock redeemed hy them in each year, the luans contracted, and proportion of those loans 
paid tg those commissioners in every year for that period ; with the public revenue of the state for the same 



APPENDIX. 



471 



a few more sagacious observers began to inquire into the solidity of the whole system, 
and mistaking its past operation, which had been almost entirely during the war, for 
its permanent character, loudly proclaimed that it was founded entirely on a delusion ; 
that a great proportion of the Fums which it paid off had been raised by loans ; that, at 
all events, a much larger sum than the amount of the debt annually redeemed had been 
annually borrowed since the commencement of the war ; that it was impossible that a 
nation, any more than an individual, could discharge its debts by mere financial opera- 
tions ; and that the only way of really getting quit of encumbrances was by bringing 
the expenditure permanently under the income.* 

These doctrines soon spread among a considerable part of the thinking portion of 
the nation ; but they made little general impression till tlie return of peace had diverted 
into different channels the attention of the people, formerly concentrated on the career 
of Napoleon ; and Democratic ambition, taiking advantage of national distress, had 
begun to denounce all that had formerly been done by the patriots who had triumphed 
over its principles. Then they speedily became universal : attacks on the sinking fund 
were rapidly diffused and generally credited — the delusion of Mr. Pitt's system — the 
juggle so long practiced on the nation, were in every mouth ; the meanest political 
quacks, the most despicable popular demagogues, ventured to discharge their javelins at 
the giants of former days : and a system on which the greatest and best of men in the 
last age had been united, in commendation of which Mr. Fox had vied with Pitt, and 
Sheridan with Burke, was universally denounced as the most complete and ruinous de- 
ception that ever had been palmed off by official fraud on the credulity of mankind. 

Had these doctrines been confined to the declamation of the hustings or the abuse of 
newspapers, they would have furnished the subject only of curious speculation on the 
way in which principles, just to a certain extent, and truths, undeniable as they were 
originally stated, became perverted, when they were employed as an engine for the 
purposes of faction or ambition. But, unhappily, the evil soon assumed a much more 
serious complexion : the prevailing ideas spread to the Legislature, and the statesmen 
who succeeded to the government, imbued partly with the declamation of tlie period, 
influenced partly by the desire of gaining a temporary popularity by the reduction of 
the public burdens, without any regard to the interests of future times, went on bor- 
rowing or abstracting from the sinking fund till it was totally extinguished during the 
great convulsion of 1832 : and the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt 
issued an official intimation that their purchases for the public service had altogether 
ceased. The principle acted upon since that time has been to apply to the reduction 
of debt no more than the annual surplus of the national income above its expenditure ; 
and as that surplus, under the present Democratic system, can never be expected 



time— MoREAu's Tables; Pebrer's Ta6/es, 153, 154, 246 ; Pari. Pap., 1822., &c., 145; Porter's Pari. Tables, 
i., 1 ; CoLQUHOUN, 292, 294. 







Table showing the progressive growth of the sinking-fund. 














Expenditure, 
netuding in- 
eiesl of debt, 

funded & un- 
funded, and 






Yeai-s. 


Sinking-fund 


Stock re- 
deemed by 
sinking-fund. 


Loans 
contracted. 


Proportion of 
loan paid to 
sinking-fund. 


Total charge 
of debt, inclu- 
ding sulking 
fund. 


Revenue. 












sinking-fund. 






1792 


^£1,458,504 


£1,5071,00 






£16,179,347 


£9,437.862 


£16,382,435 


1793 


1,534,970 


1,962,6.50 


£4,500,000 




17.434,767 


9.8<!0,9O4 


17,674,395 


1794 


1,630,615 


2,174,4(15 


12 907.451 


£1,630,615 


22,754 366 


10,715,941 


17,440.809 


1795 


1,672,000 


2.804,945 


42,090,646 


1.872,200 


29,305,477 
39,751.091 


11,081,159 


17,374,890 


1796 


2,143,596 


3,083,4.55 


42,736,196 


2,143,595 


12,345, 87 


18,243,876 


1797 


2,639,724 


4,390,670 


14,620.000 


2,6X1,724 


40,791,533 


13,683,129 


18,668,925 


1798 


3,369,218 


6,716,153 


18.000,000 


3,361,7.52 


50,739,857 


16,405,(02 


20,518,780 


1799 


4,294.325 


7,838,109 


12,500,000 


3.984,252 


51,241,798 


20,108,8&5 


23,607,945 


18fK) 


4,649,871 


7,221,338 


18,500,000 


4,288,208 


59,296.081 


21,572,867 


29,604,008 


1801 


4,767,992 


7,315,002 


34,410,000 


4,620,479 


61,617,988 


21,661,029 


28,085,829 


1802 


5,310,511 


8,091,454 


23.000,000 


5,117,7:^3 


73,072,468 


23,808.893 


28,221.183 


1S03 


5,922,979 


7,733,421 


10,000,000 


5,6&3,542 


62,373.480 


25,436,894 


38,401.738 


1804 


6,287,940 


10,527,243 


10,000,000 


6,018,179 


54,912,890 


2,5,066,212 


49,345,978 


180o 


6,851,200 


11.395.692 


21,526,699 


6„521,394 


67,619,475 


26,669,646 


49,652,471 


1806 


7,615,167 


12,234,064 


18.000,000 


7,181,482 


76,056,796 


28,963,702 


53,698,124 


1807 


8,323,329 


12 807,070 


12,;500.000 


7,829,588 


75,154,548 


30,3:36 859 


58,902,291 


1808 


9,479,165 


14,171,407 


12,000,000 


8.SK)8,673 


78,369,689 


32,052,537 


61,524,113 


1809 


10.188.607 


13.965,824 


19,.532.000 


9,555,&53 


84,797,080 


32,781„592 


63.042,746 


1810 


10,904,451 


14,352,771 


16,.311,000 


10,170.104 


88,892,.5,51 


33,986.223 


66,029,349 


1811 


ll,l'i60,601 


1.5,659,194 


24,000,000 


10,813,016 


94,3(W,728 


a5,248,93;3 


61.427,371 


1812 


12,;'0-2,860 


18,147,245 


27.871.323 


11.543.881 


99 004,241 


36,388,790 


613,327.432 


1813 


13,483.160 


21,108,442 


58,763,100 


12,4.39,631 


107.644,085 


38,443,147 


63,211,422 


1814 


15.379,262 


24,120,867 


18„50O,00O 


14,181 ,0tJ6 


122,235,660 


41,7.55,235 


70.926,215 


1815 


14,120,963 


19.149,(S4 


45,135.f«9 


12 748,231 


129,742,3S)0 


42,902,4;» 


72,131,214 


1816 


13,452,696 


20,280,098 


3,000,000 


11,902,051 


130,306,958 


43,002,999 


66,834,494 



* Hamilton on the Sinking Fund, and others. 



472 



APPENDIX. 



to be considerable, Mr. Pitt's sinking fund may now, to all practical purposes, be con- 
sidered as destroyed.* • 

In the preceding observations, the march of events has been anticipated by nearly 
thirty years, and changes alluded to which will form the important subject of analysis in 
the subsequent volumes of this, or some other history. Bath is only by attending to 
the dissolution of Mr. Pitt's system, and the effects by which that change has been, and 
must be attended, that the incalculable importance of his financial measures can be 
appreciated, or the wisdom discerned which, so far as human wisdom could, bad 
guarded against the evils which must, in their ultimate consequences, dissolve the 
British Empire. 

It is perfectly true, as Mr. Hamilton and the opponents of the sinking fund have argued, 
that neither national nor individual fortunes can be mended by mere financial opera- 
tions, by borrowing with one hand while you pay ofl"with another; and unquestionai)ly 
Mr. Pitt never imagined that, if the nation was paying off ten millions a year and bor- 
rowing twenty, it was making any progress in the discharge of its debt. In this view, 
it is of no moment to inquire what proportion of the debt annually contracted was applied 
to the sinking fund ; because, as long as larger sums than that fund was able to dis- 
charge were yearly borrowed by the nation, it is evident that the operation of the system 
was attended with no present benefit to the state : nay, that the cost of its machinery 
was, for the time at least, an addition to its burdens. But all that notwithstanding, Mr. 
Pitt's plan for the redemption of the debt was not only founded on consummate wisdom, 
but a thorough knowledge of human nature. He never looked to the sinking fund as 
the means of paying oii' the debt while loans to a larger amount than it redeemed were 
contracted every year ;t he regarded it as a fund wliich would speedily and certainly 



* The fijllowing table exhibits the progression nnd dech'ne of the sinking fund from the time of its being first 
instituted in 1786, till it was broken upon by Mr. Vnribittart in 1813, and till its virtual extinction in 1832. 
Table showing its prngressive growth, decline, and final eitinctiiin. 



Years. 


Stock redeem- 


Money applied 
to reduction of 


'I'cjtai arn't 
of funded 


Years. 


Stock redeem- 
ed. 


Money applied|Total um't 
to reduction of! of funded 




ed. 


debt 


deht. 




debt. 


1 debt. 


1786 




je.500.000 


£259,693,900 


1811 


£17,884,234 


£13,075,977 


£624,301,936 


1787 


..£062,000 


1,000,000 


2-39,200,719 


1812 


20,7:33,:J54 


14.078,.577 


6X5,583,448 


1788 


1.503.000 


1,000,000 


237,697,665 


1813 


21,246,059 


16.064,0.57 


661.409,958 


17g9 


1,506,000 


1,1.55.000 


236,191,315 


1814 


27,.522.230 


14,830,957 


740.023,535 


1790 


1,568.000 


1,230,000 


234,6S.-li;5 


1815 


22,.599,653 


14,241,397 


752.8->7.23>3 


1791 


l,.087,i5OO 


1,371,000 


233,0.t4,:i(r, 


1816 


24,001.085 


13,945,117 


816 311,940 


1792 


1,C07,1U0 


1,458.504 


231,53/,.'^;5 


1817 


23,117.,'>41 


14,514,4.57 


796,200,193 


1793 


i,%2.m 


1,634,972 


209,e:i4,-<.4.S 


1818 


19,460,982 


15.3.39,4&3 


776,742.403 


1794 


2,174.40.5 


1 8,2,9,57 


234,0M.;i8 


1619 


19,C48,49ti 


16,305,-590 


791,867,314 


1795 


2,804,945 


2.143,697 


247,8:V,2J7 


1^.20 


31,191.702 


17,499,773 


794.980,480 


1736 


8.083,455 


2,639,9.56 


30i,8;i,.!iii; 


1821 


24,.518,885 


17,219.957 


801,56.5,310 


1797 


4,3'K),k;0 


3,393,214 


355,32:;, ;7 J 


1822 


23,605.931 


18,889,319 


795,312,767 


1798 


6,790,023 


4.093,164 


m\,'2'.m; 


1823 


17,966,680 


7,4£2„^25 


796,530,144 


1799 


8,102,8;5 


4,528.-568 


4i4.9.;t;,o.>j 


1824 


4,828..530 


10,652,059 


791,701,612 


18C0 


9..5.oO,«)4 


4,908,379 


423,:36;,.547 


1825 


10,553,732 


6,093,475 


';81,123,222 


1801 


10,713,168 


5,528,315 


447,147,164 


1826 


3,313,834 


5.621,231 


778,128,2ti5 


1802 


10,491,325 


6,114,0:33 


497.043,48) 


1827 


2.!*6,.528 


6,704,706 


783,801, :R9 


1803 


9,436,;a9 


6,494.694 


522,231, ;86 


1828 


7,2S1,414 


4,667,865 


777,476,890 


1804 


13,181,667 


7,436,ft29 


.5i«,260,643 


1829 


6,03:5,414 


4.,569.48,5 


772,.322,54,0 


1803 


12,860,629 


9,402,6-8 


546,893.318 


1830 


6,425,465 


4..545,465 


771,251,932 


1803 


13,759,607 


]0,l2j,419 


573,.52'.»,:>:3 


1S31 


3,304,72:3 


2,673,907 


757,486,997 


1807 


15,341,799 


10.185,5/9 


593,694,287 


1832 


9,079 


6.821 




1808 


16,0 4,962 




601,743,073 


1833 








180J 


16,181,68.9 


11.359..579 


604,287,474 


1834 








1810 


16.656,643 


12,095,691 


614,789. U91 


I 18a5 









—Porter's Pari. Tables, i., ai d ii., 6, 8, : Pebrer's, Tahlcs, 247: Moreau's Tables. 

N. B.—Thistableexhibits the progress of tiie sinking fund and stock redeemed in Great Britam and [relarut, 
which explains its difference from the preceding table, applicable to Great Britain alone. 

t Mr. Pitt's speech on the budget, in 1798, affords decisive evidence th.Tt he labored under no delusion on the 
subject of the operation of the sinking fund during war, but always looked litrwnrd to its effects when loans had 
ceased by the return of peace, as exemplifying its true character, and alone effecting a real reduction of the debt. 
"By means of the sinking fund," said he, " we had advanced far in the reduction of the debt previous to tlie 
loans necessarily made in the present war, and every year was attended with such accelerated salutary effectJi as 
outran the most sanguine calculation. But. having done sn, we have yet far to go. as things are circumstanced. 
If the reduction of the debt be contined to the operations of that fund, and the expenses of the war continue to 
impede our plans of economy, we shall have to go far before the operation of that fund, even during pence, can 
be expected to counteract the effects of the war. Yet there are means by which I am confident it would be pog- 
fible, in not many years, t(j restore our resources, and put the country in a state equal to all exigences. Notcmljr 
do I conce've that the principle is wise and the attempt practicable to procure large supplies out of the direct 
taxes from the year, but I conceive that it is enually wise and not less pnictici.ble to make provision tor the 
amount of the debt incurred and funded in the same. year; and if the necessity of carrying on the war shall entail 
upon us the necessity of contracting another debt, this principle, if duly carried into practice, with the assistance 
of the sinking fund to cooperate, will enable us not to owe more than we di<i at its commencement. / cannot, 
indeed, take it upon me to say that the war will not stop the progress of liquidation, but if the means I have 
pointed out are adopted and resolutely adhered to, it will leave us at least stationary."— faW. Hist., xxxi::., 
1053, 1054. 



APPENDIX. 473 

effect the reduction of the debt in time of peace. And the admirable nature of the 
institution consisted in this, that it provided a system, with all the machinery requisite 
for its complete and effective operation, which, although overshadowed and subdued by 
the vast contraction of debt during war, came instantly into powerful operation the 
moment its expenditure was terminated. This was a point of vital importance ; indeed, 
without it, a# experience has since proved, all attempts to reduce the debt would have 
proved utterly nugatory. Mr. Pitt was perfectly aware of the natural impatience of 
taxation of mankind in general, and the especial desire always felt that, when the excite- 
ment of war ceased, its expenditure should draw to a termination. He foresaw, there- 
fore, that it would be impossible to get the popular representatives at the conclusion of 
the war to lay on new taxes, and provide for a sinking fund to pay off the debt which 
had been contracted during its continuance. The only way, therefore, to secure that 
inestimable object, was to have the whole machinery constructed and in full activity du- 
ring war, so that it might be at once brought forward into full and efficient operation 
upon the conclusion of hostilities, without any legislative act or fresh imposition what- 
ever, by the mere termination of the contraction of loans. 

The result has completely proved the wisdom of these views. Crippled and mangled 
as the sinking fund has been by the enormous encroachments made upon it by the ad- 
ministrations of later times, it has yet done much during the peace to pay off the debt ; 
amply sufficient to demonstrate the solidity of the principles on which it was founded. 
In sixteen years, even after these copious reductions, it has discharged more than eiglity. 
two millions of the debt, besides the addition of seven millions made by the bonus of 5 
per cent, granted to the holders of the five per cents., who were reduced to four : that it 
has paid off in that time nearly ninety millions.* It is not a juggle which, in a time so 
short in tlie lifetime of a nation, and during the greater part of which Great Britain was 
laboring under severe distress in almost all the branches of its industry, was able, even 
on a reduced scale, to effect a reduction so considerable. 

Nor has the experience of the last twenty years been less decisive as to the absolute 
necessity of making the provision for the liquidation of the debt part of a permanent 
system, to which the national faith is absolutely and unequivocally bound, and which 
depends for no part of its efficiency upon the votes or financial measures of the year. 
Since this ruinous modification of Mr. Pitt's unbending, self-poised system was intro- 
duced ; since the fatal precedent was established of allowing the minister to determine, 
by annual votes, how much of the sinking fund was to be applied to the current services 
of the year, and how much reserved for its original and proper destination, the encroach- 
ment on the fund has gone on continually increasing, till at length it iias, to all piactical 
purposes, swallowed it entirely up. The sinking fund, when thus broken upon, has 
proved, like the chastity of a woman, whe;i once lost, the subject of continual subsequent 
violation, till the shadow even of respect for it is gone. If such has been the fate of 
this noble and truly patriotic establishment, even when no increased burden was required 
to keep it in activity, and the temptation which proved fatal to its existence was merely 
the desire to effect a reduction of taxes long borne by the nation, it is easy to see how 
utterly hopeless would have been any attempt to make considerable additions to the 
annual burdens upon the conclusion of hostilities with a view to effect a diminution of 
ltd public debt : and how completely dependent, therefore, the sinking fund was for its 
very existence upon Mr. Pitt's system of having all its machinery put in motion at the 
time the loans were contracted during war, and its vast powers brought into full view 
without any application to the Legislature, by the mere cessation of borrowing on the 
return of peace. t 

* Funded debt on January 5, 1816 ^6816,311,940 

Unfunded do . ^ 48,510,501 

Total £864,8a2,441 

Total debt on 5th January, 1833: viz., 

Funded £754,100,549 

Unfunded 27,752,650 

781,853.199 



Paid off in sixteen years £82,969,243 

—Anmw.1 Finance Statement, 18^, and Pkbrer, 246, and Portkr's Parliamentary Tables, ii., 6. 

tin Mr. Pitt's Financial Resolutions in the year 1799, which embrace a vast variety of impoi-tant financial 
details, there is the clearest indication of the la-slinp and permanent system to whicli he looked forward with per- 
fect justice for the entire liquidation of the pulilic debt. One of these resolutions was, " That, suppusing the 
price nt 3 per cent stock to l)e on an average, after the year 1800, £90 in time of iieace. and £75 in time of war, 
and the proportion of peace and war to be the same as for the last liundred years, the average price of peace and 
war will be about £85 ; that Uie whole debt created in each year of the present war will be redeemed in about 



474 APPENDIX. 

Not a shadow of doubt can now remain that Mr. Pitt's and Mr. Addington's antici- 
pations were well founded, and that, if their system had been adhered to since the 
peace, the whole national debt would have been discharged by the year 1843. The 
payment of eighty millions, under the mutilated system, since 1815, affords a sample of 
what might have been expected, had its efficiency not been impaired. Even supposing 
that, for the extraordinary efforts of 1813, 1814, and 1815, it had been nefessary to bor- 
row from the commissioners the whole sinking fund during each of these years, still, if 
the nation and its government had posessed sufficient resolution to have resumed the 
system with the termination of hostilities, and steadily adhered to it since that time, the 
debt discharged by the year 1836 would, at 5 per cent., have been nearly six hundred 
millions, and the sinking fund would now have been paying off" above forty millions a 
year. Or, if the national engagements would only have permitted the sinking fund to 
have been kept up at ten millions yearly from the produce of taxes, and if the accumu- 
lation were to be calculated at four per cent., which, on an average, is probably not far 
from the truth, the fund applicable to the reduction of debt would now have been above 
twenty millions annually, and the debt already discharged would have exceeded three 
hundred and thirty millions ! A more rapid reduction of funded property would not 
probably have been consistent, either with a proper regard to the employment of capital, 
or the due creation of safe channels of investment, to receive so vast an annual discharge 
from the public treasury.* 

forty years from such year respectively, and the whole of the capital debt existing previous to 1703 will l>e 
redeemed in about forty-seven years from the present time; that from 1808 to 1833 (at which tine tlie capital 
debt created in the first year of the present war would be redeemed, and the taxes applicable to the charges 
thereof would become disposable,) taxes would be set free in each year of peace to the amount of ,£133,000, and 
of war to that of ,£168,000; that the amount of the >um annually applicable to the reduction of the debt would in 
the course of the same period gradually rise from £5,000.000 to j£10,400,000 : and that, on the suppositions before 
stated, taxes equal to the amount of the charges created during each year of the present war will be successively 
set free, frcmi 1833 to 1840, to the amount in Ihe whole of £10,500,000, and about 1846, further taxes to the amount 
of £4,200,000, being the sum applicable from 1808 to the reduction of the debt existing previous to 1793 ; making 
in all, when the whole debt is extinguished in 1816, a reduction of £19,000,000 yearly. "a Such was the far-seeing 
and durable system of this great statesman ; and experience has now proved that, if his principles had been ad- 
hered to, and the taxes applicable to the charges of the debt had not been imprudently repealed, these antici- 
pations would have been more than realized, notwithstanding ihe vast increase of the debt since that tiuie. 

* Tables showing the progressive growth of the Sinking Fund of fifteen or ten millions, since 181G to 1836. 

Table I., showing what the Sinking Fund, accumulating at 5 per cent., if maintained at £15,000,000 a year, 
would have paid otf from 1816 to 1836. 

1816 «15,0nn,000 Brought forward £212,660,625 

1817 15,750,000 1827 25,530,240 

1818 16.537,500 1828 26,839,360 

1819 17,363,870 1829 28,181,423 

1820 18,231,973 1830 29,590,464 

1821 19,143,566 1831 31,579,590 

1822 20,100,774 1832 83,158,577 

1823 21,00.5,038 1833 34,816,000 

1824 22,055,284 1834 35,524,625 

*" 1825 23,157,048 1835 37,238,312 



24,315,572 1836 39,099,214 



Carry forward £212,660,625 Total in 20 years £534,127,430 
Table II., showing what the Sinking Fund, if maintained from the ta.\es at £10,000 000 sterling, and if accn 
mutating at 4 per cent, only, would have paid off from 1810 to 1836. 

1816 £10.000,000 Brought forw.ird £138,243 700 

1817 10,400,000 1827 16 032 580 

1818 10,816.000 1828 16 673 880 

1819 11,264,000 1829 17 34o'832 

1820 11,715,560 1830 18034464 

1821 12,671,544 1831 18 754 840 

1822 13,178,404 1832 19,505!o32 

1823 13.705,540 1833 20285232 

1824 14.253,760 1834 21096640 

1825 14,822.948 1835 21 93o'.504 

1826 15,415,944 1836 23107 734 



Carry forward £138,243,700 Total in 20 years £331,005,428 

Supposing the stock, in the first case, purchased on an average at 90 by the commissioners, the £534,027,464 
sterling money would have redeemed a tenth more of the stock, or £587,000.000 of the stock. Supposmg it 
bought, in the second case, at an average at 85, which would probably have been .'ibout the mark, the £342.(»0, 
000 sterling money would have purchased nearly a seventh more of stock, or £385,357,000, being just about a 
half of the debt existing at this moment. 

a Pari. Hist., xzziv., 1155. 



APPENDIX 



475 



Everything, therefore, conspires to demonstrate thcat Mr. Pitt's system for the reduc 
tion of the natiunal debt was nut only founded on just principles and profound fore- 
sight, but an accurate knowledge of human nature and a correct appreciation of the 
principles by which such a salutary scheme was likely to be defeated, and the means 
by which alone its permanent efficiency could be secured. And no doulit can now re- 
main in any impartial mind th;it, if that system had been resolutely adhered to, the 
whole debt contracted during the war with the French Revolution might have been 
discharged in nearly the same time that it was contracted. 

Wiiat is it, then, which has occasioned the subsequent ruin of a system constructed 
"vith so much wisdom, and so long adhered to, under the severest trials, with unshaken 
fidelity ? The answer is to be found in the temporary views and yielding policy of suc- 
ceeding statesmen ; in the substitution of ideas of present expedience for those of per- 
manent advantage; in the advent of times, when government looked from year to year, 
not from century to century ; in the mistaking the present applause of the unreflecting 
many for that sober approbation of the thoughtful few, which it should ever be the chief 
object of an enlightened statesman to obtain. When a Greek orator was applauded by 
the multitude for his speech, the philosopher chid him : " For," said he, " if you had 
spoken wisely, these men would have given no signs of approbation." The observa- 
tion is not founded on any peculiar fickleness or levity in the Athenian people, but on 
the permanent principles of human nature, and that genera! prevalence of the desire for 
temporary ease over considerations of permanent advantage, which it is the great ob- 
ject of the moralist to combat, and to the influence of which the greatest disasters of 
private life are owing. And, without relieving subsequent statesmen of their iuU share 
of responsibility ibr an evil which will now in the end probably consign the British Em- 
pire to destruction, it may safely be affirmed that the British people, and every individ- 
ual among them, must bear their full share of the burden. A general delusion seized 
the public mind. The populace loudly clamored for a reduction of taxation, without 
any regard to the consequences, not merely on future times, but their own present advan- 
tage ; the learned fiercely assailed the sinking fund, and, with hardly a single excep. 
tion, branded the work of Pitt and Fox as a vile imposture, unfit to stand the test of 
reason or experience ; the opposition vehemently demanded the remission of taxes; the 
government weakly granted the request. Year after year passed away under this mis- 
erable delusion ; tax after tax was repealed amid the general applause of the nation ;* 
the general concurrence in the work of destruction for a time almost obliterated the 

* Table showing the amount of direct and indirect taxes repealed since 1814. 

M'ett produce. Oross produce. 

1814, War duties on goods, &c £932,000 £948,861 

1815, Ditto 222,000 222,749 

1816, Property -tax and war malt 17,547,000 17,886,666 

1817, Sweet wines 37,000 37,812 

1818, Vinegar,&c 9,500 9,534 

1819, Plate glass, &c 269,000 373.573 

1820, Beer in Scotland 4,000 4,000 

1821, Wool 471,000 490,113 

1822, Annual malt and hides 2,139,000 2,164,037 

1823, Saltand assessed taxes 4,185,000 4,286,389 

1824, Thrown silk and salt 1,801,000 1,805,467 

1835, Wine, salt, &c 3,676,000 3,771,019 

1836, Rum and British spirits I,9o7,000 1,973,915 

1827, Stamps 84,000 84,038 

1828, Rice, &e 51,000 52,227 

1&2», Silk, &c ■. 126,000 126,406 

1830, Beer, hides, and sugar 4,070,000 4,264.425 

ISl, Printed cottons, and coals -1,588,000 3,189,312 

1832, Candles, almonds, raisins, &c 747,000 754,996 

1833, Soap, tiles, &c l,00O,0CO 1,100,000 

1834, House duty 1,200,000 1,400,000 



£42,125,500 £44,845.529 

Laid on in the same time 5,813,000 

Nett taxation reduced £36,312,500 

Of which was direct 18,690,000 

Indirect 17,490,000 

£36.180,000 
—See Pari. Paper, 14th June, 1833, and Budget, 1834, Pari. Deb. 



476 APPENDIX. 

deep lines of party distinction, and, amid mutual compliments from the opposition to 
the ministerial benches, the deep foundations of British greatness were loosened, the 
provident system of former times was abandoned ; revenue to the amount of forty-two 
millions a year surrendered without any equivalent, and the nation, when it wakened 
from its trance, found itself saddled for ever with eight-and-twenty millions as the inte- 
rest of debt, without any means of redemption, and a Democratic constitution which 
rendered the construction of any such in time to come utterly hopeless. 

The people were entitled to demand an instant relaxation from taxation upon the ter- 
mination of hostilities ; the pressure of the war taxes would have been insupportable 
when its excitement and expenditure were over. The income-tax could no longer be 
endured ; the assessed taxes and all the direct imposts should at once have been re- 
pealed; no man, excepting the dealers in articles liable to indirect taxation, should 
have paid anything to government. This was a part, and a most important part, of Mr. 
Pitt's system. He was aware of the extreme and well-founded discontent which the 
payment of direct taxes to government occasions; he knew that nothing but the ex- 
citements and understood necessities of war can render it bearable. His system was 
therefore to provide for the extra expenses of war entirely by loans or direct taxes, and 
to devote the indirect taxes to the interest of the public debt and the permanent charge* 
of government, those lasting burdens which could not be reduced without injury to the 
national credit or security on the termination of hostilities. In this way a triple ob- 
ject was gained: the nation during the continuance of war was made to feel its pres- 
sure by the payment of heavy annual duties, while, upon its conclusion, the people 
experienced an instant relief in the cessation of those direct payments to government, 
which are always felt as most burdensome ; and at the same time the permanent char- 
ges of the state were provided for in those indirect duties, which, although by far the 
most productive, are seldom complained of, from their being mixed up with the price 
of commodities, and so not perceived by those who ultimately bear their weight. Mr. 
Pitt's system of taxation, in short, combined the important objects of heavy taxation 
during war, instant relief on peace, and a permanent provision for the lasting expenses 
of the state, in the way least burdensome to the people. The influence of these admi- 
rable principles is to be seen in the custom so long adhered to, and only departed from 
amid the improvidence of later times, of separating, in the annual accounts of the na- 
tion, the war charges from the permanent expenses, and providing for the former by 
loans and temporary taxes, for the most part in the direct form, while the latter were 
met by lasting imposts, which were not to be diminished till the burdens to which they 
were applicable were discharged. 

Following out these principles, the income tax, the assessed taxes, the war malt tax, 
and, ill general, all the war taxes, should have been repealed on the conclusion of hos- 
tilitie'fe or as soon as the floating debt contracted during their continuance was liquida- 
ted ; but, on the other hand, the indirect taxes should have been regarded as a sacred 
fund set apart for the permanent expenses of the nation, the interest of the debt, and 
the sinking fund ; and none of them repealed till, from the growth of a surplus after 
meeting those necessary charges, it had become apparent that such relief could be af- 
forded without trenching on the financial resources of the state. That the growth oif 
population and the constant efforts of general industry would progressively have ena- 
bled government, without injuring these objects, to afford such relief, at least by the re- 
peal of the most burdensome of the indirect taxes, as the salt tax, the soap and candle 
tax, and pa'-t of the malt tax, is evident, from the consideration that the taxes given up 
since the peace amount to il42,000,000, and consequently, after the repeal of the in- 
come tax, assessed taxes, and these oppressive indirect taxes, an ample fund for the 
maintenance of the sinking fund, even at the elevated rate of fifteen millions a year, 
would have remained.* Thus Mr. Pitt's system involved within itself the important 

* Total taxes repealed since the peace, X42,115,000". 
Migiit have been repealed, viz. : 

Property-tax and war malt j617,547.000 

War duties on goods 1,154,000 

Annual malt and hides 2,139.000 

Salt and assessed taxes 4,1&5,000 

Candles 600.000 

Soap-tax 800 000 

House-tax 1,200,000 

£27,635,000 
Leaving to support the sinking fund 14,490,000 

£42,115,000 
Besides £5,813,000 of fresh taxee imposed during the same period. 



APPENDIX 477 

and invaluable qualities of providing amply for the necessities of the moment, affording 
instant relief on the termination of hostilities, and yet reserving an adequate fund for 
the liquidation of all the national engagements in as short a time as they were con- 
tracted. 

If, indeed, the nation had been positively unable to bear the burden of the sinking 
fund of fifteen millions drawn from the indirect taxes, it might have been justly argued 
that the evil consequences of its abandonment, however much to be deplored, were 
unavoidable, and, therefore, that the present hopeless situation of the debt may be the 
subject of regret, but cannot be reproached as a fault to any administration whatever. 
But, unfortunately, this is by no means the case. To all appearance, tlie nation has 
derived no material benefit from a great part of the taxes thus improvidently abandoned, 
but has, on the contrary, suffered in all its present interests, as well as future prospects, 
from the change. 

In proof of this, it is only necessary to recollect that during the war the nation not 
only existed, but throve under burdens infinitely greater than have been imposed since 
its termination, and that, too, although the exports and imports at that period were little 
more than half of what they have since become. During the last four years of the war, 
the sum annually raised by taxes was from sixty-five to seventy. five millions, while 
twenty years after it was from forty-five to fifty; although, during the first period, the 
exports ranged from forty-five to sixty millions, and the imports from twenty-five to 
thirty; while, during the latter, the exports had risen to seventy-five millions, and the 
imports to forty-five.* Without doubt, the prosperity of the latter years of the war 
was, in a great degree, fictitious ; most certainly it depended to a certain extent on the 
feverish excitement of an extravagant issue of paper, and was also much to be ascribed 
to a large portion of the capital of the nation being at that period annually borrowed 
and spent in an unproductive form, to its great present benefit and certain ultimate em. 
barrassment. It is equally clear that, if this had gone on for some years longer, irrepa. 
rablc ruin must have been the result. But there is a medium in all things. As much 
as the public expenditure before 1816 exceeded what a healthful state of the body poli- 
tic could bear, so much has the expenditure since that time fallen short of it. Violent 
U'ansitions are as injurious in political as private life. To pass at once from a state 
of vast and unprecedented expenditure to one of rigid and jealous economy, is in the 
highest degree injurious to a nation ; it is like making a man who has for years drank 
two bottles of port a day suddenly take to toast and water. It may sometimes be una- 
voidable, but, unquestionably, the change would be much less perilous if gradually ef. 
fected. 

It was unquestionably right, at the conclusion of the war, to have made as large a 
reduction as was consistent with the public security in the army and navy, and to stop 
at once the perilous system of bfirrowing money. Such a reduction at once permitted 
the repeal of the whole direct war taxes. But having done this, the question is. Was it 
expedient to go a step farther, and make such reductions in the indirect taxes, of which 
no serious complaint was made, as amounted to a practical repeal of the sinkino- fund? 
That was the ruinous measure ! The maintenance of that fund at twelve or fifteen 
millions a year, raised from taxes, with its growing increase, would, to all appearance, 
have been a happy medium, which, without adding to, but, on the contrary, in the long 
run diminishing the national burdens, would, at the same time, have prevented that vio- 
lent transition from a state of expenditure to one of retrenchment, under the effects of 
which, for eighteen years after the peace, all branches of industry, with only a few in- 
tervals, continued to labor. 

No one branch of the government expenditure would have gone farther to uphold, 
during this trying time, the industry and credit of the country, {ind diffuse an active 
demand for labor through all classes, than that which was devoted to the sinking fund. 
Such a fund, beginning at twelve or fifteen millions a year derived from taxes, and 

* Official value. Official value. 

Raised hy taxes. c^af ITr^fain Greaf Cniu 

and Ireland. and Ireland. 

1813 £63.211,000 £38,226,283 £23,163,411 

1814 70,926,000 Records destroyed by Hre. 

1815 72,131,000 52,573.034 33,755,264 

1816 76,834,000 58,624,600 32,967,396 

1830 £55,824,802 £69,691,302 £46,245 241 

1831 54,810,190 71,429,004 49,713889 

1832 50,990,315 76,071,572 44,586,241 

<Pebrer's Tables, 159, 341 ; Porter's Pwrl. Tables, i.. 48, and ii., 49. 



478 APPENDIX. 

progressively rising to twenty or thirty millions, annually applied to the redemption of 
stock, must have had a prodigious effect, both in upholding credit and spreading com- 
mercial enterprise tiirough the country. It would have produced an effect precisely 
opposite to that which the annual absorption of the same sum, during the war, in loans 
occasioned. The public funds, under the influence of the prodigious and growing pur- 
chases of the commissioners, must have been maintained at a very high level ; it is 
probably not going too far to say, that since 1820 they would have been constantly kept 
from 90 to 100. The effect of such a state of things in vivifying and sustaining com- 
mercial enterprise, and counteracting the depression consequent upon the great diminu. 
tion of tlie government expenditure in other departments, must have been very great. 
The money given for the stock purchased by the commissioners would have been let 
loose upon the country ; their operations must have continually poured out upon the 
nation a stream of wealth, constantly increasing in size, which, in the search for profit. 
able investment, could not have avoided giving a most important stimulus to every 
branch of national industry. The sinking fund must have operated like a great forcing, 
pump, which drew a large portion of the capital of the country annually out of its un. 
productive investment in the public funds, and directed it to the various beneficial 
channels of private employment. Doubtless the funds necessary for the accomplishment 
of tliis o-ieat work must have been drawn fiom the nation, or the proceeds of the stock 
purchased by the commissioners, just as the produce of the taxes is all extracted from 
the national industry; but experience has abundantly proved that such a forcible direc. 
tion of a considerable part of the national income to such a productive investment, is 
often more conducive to immediate prosperity, as well as ultimate advantage, than if, 
from an undue regard to popular clamor, it is allowed to remain at the disposal of indi. 
viduals. It is like compelling a spendthrift and embarrassed landowner not only to pro- 
vide annually for the interest of his debts, but to pay off a stated portion of the principal, 
which, when assigned to his creditors, is immediately devoted to the fertilizing of his 
fields and the draining of his morasses. Nor is this all. The high price of the funds 
consequent upon the vast and growing purchases of the commissioners would have gone 
far not only to keep up that prosperous state of credit which is essential to the well- 
being of a commercial country, but would have induced numbers of private individuals 
to sell out in order to realize the great addition to their capitals which the rise of the 
public securities had occasioned. To assert that this forced application yearly of a 
considerable portion of the national capital to the redemption of the debt would have 
altogether counteracted the decline in the demand for labor consequent on the transi. 
tion from a state of war to one of peace, would be going farther than either reason or 
experience will justify ; but this much may confidently be asserted, that the general 
prosperity consequent on this state of things could not have failed to have rendered the 
taxation requisite to produce it comparatively a tolerable burden ; that the nation would, 
to all appearance, have been much more prosperous than it has been under the opposite 
system, and, at the same time, would have obtained the incalculable advantage of having 
paid off, during these prosperous years, above two-thirds of the national debt. This 
prosperity doubtless would have been partly owing to a forced direction of capital ; but 
whatever danger there may be in such a state of things while debt is annually contracted, 
there is comparatively little when it is continued only for its discharge ; and when an 
artificial system has contributed to the formation of a burden, it is well that it should 
not be entirely removed till that burden is reduced to a reasonable amount. 

Every one, when this vast reduction of indirect taxes was going on, to the entire 
destruction of the sinking fund and Mr. Pitt's provident system of financial policy, 
looked only, even with reference to present advantage, to one side of the account. They 
forgot that, if the demands of government on the industry of the nation were rapidly 
reduced, their demands on government must instantly undergo a similar diminution ; that, 
if the Exchequer ceased to collect seventy millions a year, it must cease also to expend 
it. Every reduction of taxation, even in those branches where it is not complained of, 
was held forth as an alleviation of the burdens of the nation, and a reasonable ground 
for popularity to its rulers ; whereas, in truth, the relief even at the moment was more 
nominal than real, as though a diminution of those burdens was effected : it took place 
frequently in quarters where they were imperceptible, and drew after it an instanjane- 
ous and most sensible reduction in the demand for labor and the employment of the 
industrious classes, at a time when it could ill be spared, from the same effect having 
simultaneously ensued from other causes. Great part of the distress which has been 
felt by all classes since the peace was the result of the general diminution of expendi. 
tare, which the too rapid reduction of so many indirect taxes, and consequent abandon- 



APPENDIX, 479 

nient of the sinking fund, necessarily occasioned, and which the maintenance of its 
machinery till it had fulfilled its destined purpose would, to a very great degree, have 
alleviated. It augments our regret, therefore, at the abandonment of Mr. Pitt's finan- 
cial system, that the change had not even the excuse of present necessity or obvious 
expedience for its recommendation, but was the result of undue subservience to partic- 
ular interests, or desire for popularity on the part of our rulers, uattended even by the 
temporary advantages for the sake of which its incalculable ultimate benefits were re- 
linquished. 

Lord Castlereagh made a most manly endeavor, in 1816, to induce the people to 
submit for a few years to that elevated rate of taxation by which alone permanent relief 
from tlie national embarrassments could be expected ; but he committed a signal error 
in the tax which he selected for the struggle, and deviated as much from Mr. Pitt's 
principles in the eflTort to maintain that heavy impost as subsequent administrations did 
in their abandonment of others of a lighter character. The income-tax, being a direct 
war impost of the most oppressive and invidious description, was always intended by 
that great statesman to come to a close with the termination of hostilities ; and its 
weight was so excessive, that it was impossible and unreasonable to expect the people 
to submit any longer to its continuance. Nothing could be more impolitic, therefore, 
than to commit government to a contest with the people on so untenable a ground. It 
was the subsequent repeal of indirect taxes to the amount of above five-and-twenty 
millions a year, when they were not complained of, and the fall in the price of the taxed 
articles, from the change in the value of money, had rendered their weight impercepti- 
ble, which was the fatal deviation from Mr. Pitt's principles. The administrations by 
whom this prodigious repeal was effected are not exclusively responsible for the result: 
it is not unlikely, that from the growing preoonderance of the popular branch of the 
Constitution, it had become impossible to carry on the government without the annual 
exhibition of some such fallacious benefit, to gain the applause of the multitude; and it 
is more than probable that, from the excessive influence which in later years it acquired, 
the maintenance of any fixed provident system of finance had become impossible. But 
they are to blame, and posterity will not acquit them of the fault, for not having con- 
stantly and strenuously combated this natural, though ruinous popular weakness ; and 
if they could not prevail on the House of Commons to adhere to Mr. Pitt's financial 
system, at least laid on them the responsibility of all the consequences of its abandon- 
ment. 

It was impossible to explain Mr. Pitt's system for the reduction of the debt, without 
anticipating tlie course of events, and unfolding the ruinous results which have followed 
the departure from its principles. The paramount importance of the subject must plead 
the author's apology for the aftachronism : and it remains now to advert, with a diflfer- 
ent measure of encomium, to the funding system on which that statesman so largely 
acted, and the general principles on which his taxation was founded. 

It is evident that in some cases the funding system, or the plan of providing for ex- 
traordinary public expenses by loans, the interest of which is alone laid as a burden on 
future years, is not only just, but attended with very great public advantage. When a 
war is destined apparently to be of short endurance, and a great lasting advantage may 
be expected from its results, it is often impossible, and, if possible, would be unjust, to 
lay its expenses exclusively upon the years of its continuance. In ordinary contests, 
indeed, it is frequently practicable, and when so, it is always advisable, to make the 
expenses of the year fall entirely upon its income, so that at the conclusion of hostilities 
no lasting burden may descend upon posterity. But in other cases this cannot be done. 
When, in consequence of the fierce attack of a desperate and reckless enemy, it has 
become necessary to make extraordinary eflforts, it is altogether out of the question to 
raise supplies in the year adequate to its expenditure : nor. is it reasonable, in such 
cases, to lay upon those who, for the sake of their children as well as themselves, have 
engaged in the struggle, the whole charges of a contest of which the more lasting bene- 
fits are probably to accrue to those who are to succeed them. In such cases, necessity 
in nations, not less than individuals, calls for the equalization of the burden over all 
ti .se who are to obtain the benefit ; and the obvious mode of eflfecting this is by the 
funding system, which, providing at once by loan the supplies necessary for carrying on 
the contest, lays its interest as a lasting charge on those for whose behoof the debt had 
been contracted. Nor is it possible to deny, amid all the evils which the abuse of this 
system has occasioned, its astonishing effect in suddenly augmenting the resources of a 
nation ; or to resist the conclusion deducible from the fact, that it was to its vigorous 



480 APPENDIX. 

and happy application at the close of the war that the extraordinary successes by which 
it was distinguished are in a great degree to be ascribed.* 

But this system, like everything good in human affairs, has its limits ; and if extra. 
ordinary benefits may sometimes arise from its adoption, extraordinary evils may still 
more frequently originate in its abuse. Many individuals have been elevated, by means 
of loans contributed at a fortunate moment, to wealth and greatness ; but many more 
have been involved, by the fatal command of money which it confers for a short period, 
in irretrievable embarrassments. Unless suggested by necessity and conducted with 
prudence ; unless administered with frugality and followed by parsimony, borrowing is, 
to nations not less than individuals, the general road to ruin. It is the ease of contract- 
ing compared with the difficulty of discharging ; the natural disposition to get a present 
command of money, and leave the task of paying it off to posterity, which is the temp- 
tation that, tu communities not less than single men, so often proves irresistible. Opulent 
nations, whose credit is high, become involved in debt from the same cause which has 
drowned almost all the great estates in Europe with mortgages : the existence of the 
means of relieving present difficulties, by merely contracting debt, is more than the 
firmness either of the heads of families or the rulers of empires can resist. And there is 
this extraordinary and peculiar danger in the lavish contraction of debt by government, 
that by the great present expenditure with which it is attended, a very great impulse is 
communicated at the time to every branch of industry, and thus immediate prosperity 
is generated out of the source of ultimate ruin. 

Mr. Pitt was fully aware both of the immediate advantages and ultimate dangers of 
the funding system. His measures, accordingly, varied with the aspect which the war 
assumed, and the chances of bringing it to an immediate issue, which present appear- 
ances appeared to afford. During its earlier years, when the Continental campaigns 
were going on, and a rapid termination of the strife was constantly expected, as was the 
case with the Spanish Revolution in 1823, or the Polish in 1831, large loans were annu- 
ally contracted, and the greater part of the war-supplies of the year were raised by that 
means ; provision being made for the permanent raising of the interest, and the sinking 
fund for its extinction, in the indirect taxes which were simultaneously laid on, and to 
the maintenance of which the national faith was pledged, till the whole debt thus con- 
tracted, principal and interest, was discharged.! It is no impeachment of the wisdom 
of this system, so far as finance goes, that the expectations of a speedy termination of 
the contest were constantly disappointed, and that debt to the amount of £116,000,000 
was contracted before the Continental peace of Campo Formio in 1797, without any 
other result than a constant additiun to the power of France. The question is not 
whether the resources obtained from these loans were beneficially expended, but whe- 
ther the debts were contracted yearly under a belief, foutided on rational grounds, that 
by a vigorous prosecution of the contest, it might speedily be brought to a successful 
issue. That this view, so far as mere finance considerations are concerned, was well 
founded, is obvious from the narrow escapes which the French Republic repeatedly 
made during that period, and the many occasions on which the jealousies of the allies, 
or the niggardly exertion of its military resources by Great Britain, threw away the 
means of triumph when within their grasp. The financial measures of the British 
ministry, therefore, during this period, were justifiable and prudent : the real error con- 
sisted in the misapplication, or undue husbanding of its land-forces, for which it is not 
BO easy to find an apology. 

But after the peace of Campo Formio this system of lavish annual borrowing, in 
expectation of an immediate and decisive result, necessarily required a modification. 

* liOans contracted by tlie British government in the latter years of the war. 

1812 £24.000,000 1 1814 £58,763,000 

1813 27,871,000 I 1815 18,500,000 

Of these great loans upward of £12,000,000 was, in 1813, 1814, and 1815, applied annually to foreign powers ; in 
eonsequence of which, the whole armies ot'Europe came to he arrayed in British pay on the banks of the Rhine; 
while, at the same time, the Duke of Wellington, at the head of 60,000 men, was maintained on the souther* 
fioiilier of France.— Morea.u's Tables; Pebrer, 246. 
t Loan Contracted. 

1793 £4,500,000 

1794 12,907,451 

1795 42,090,349 

1796 42.736,196 

1797 14,629,000 

£116,863,293 
— SlOBEAV'a Tables. 



APPENDIX. 481 

Great Britain was tlien left alone in the struggle. Her Continental allies had all disap- 
peared from the field of battle ; and the utmost that she could now expect was to con- 
tinue a defensive warfare, till time or a different series of events had again brought their 
vast armies to her side. To have continued the system of borrowing for the war ex- 
penses of the year, in such a state of the contest, would have been to go on with meas- 
ures which were likely to lead to perdition. The war having now assumed a defensive 
and lasting complexion, the moment had arrived when it became necessary to bring the 
taxes within the year nearer to a level with the expenditure. This change, and the 
reasons for it, are thus detailed in Mr. Pitt's speech on the budget for the year 1798 : 
" Nineteen millions is the sum which is required for extraordinary expenses in the 
present year. According to the received system of financial operations, the natural and 
ordinary mode of providing for this would be by a loan. I admit that the funding sys- 
tem, which has so long been the established mode of supplying the public wants, is not 
yet exhausted, though I cannot but regret the extent to which it has been carried. If 
we look, however, at the general diffusion of weaUli and the great accumulation of 
capital ; above all, if we consider the hopes which the enemy has of wearing us out by 
the embarrassments of the funding system, we must admit that the true mode of pre- 
paring ourselves to maintain the contest with effect and ultimate success, is to reduce 
tiie advantages which the funding system is calculated to afford within due limits, and 
to prevent the depreciation of our national securities. We ought to consider how far 
the efforts we shall exert to preserve the blessings we enjoy will enable us to transmit 
the inheritance to posterity unencumbered with those burdens which would cripple their 
vigor, and prevent them from asserting that rank in the scale of nations which their 
ancestors so long and gloriously maintained. It is in this point of view that the object 
ought to be considered. Whatever objections might have been fairly urged against the 
funding system in its origin, no man can suppose that, after the form and shape which it 
has given to our financial affairs, after the heavy burdens which it has left behind it, we 
can now recur to the notion of making the supplies raised within the year, on such a 
scale of war expense as we are now placed in, equal the expenditure. If such a plan, 
hov/ desirable soever, is evidently impracticable, some medium, however, maybe found 
to draw as much advantage from the funding system as it is fit, consistently with a due 
regard to posterity, to afford, and at the same time to obviate the evils with which its 
excess would be attended. We may still devise some expedient by which we may 
contribute to the defence of our own cause and to the supply of our own exigencies, by 
which we may reduce within equitable limits the accommodation of the funding system, 
and lay the foundation of that quick redemption which will prevent the dangerous con- 
sequences of an overgrown accumulation of our public debt. 

" To guard against the undue accumulation of the public debt, and to contribute that 
share to the struggle in which we are engaged which our abilities will enable us, with- 
out inconvenience to those who are called upon to contribute, to afford, appears essen- 
tially necessary. I propose, with this view, to reduce the loan for this year (I79S) to 
twelve millions, and to raise seven millions by additional taxation within the year. 1 
am aware that this sum does far exceed anything which has been raised at any former 
period at one time ; but I trust that, whatever temporary sacrifices it may be necessary 
to make, the House will see that they will best provide for the ultimate success of the 
struggle, by showing that they are determined to be guided by no personal conside- 
rations, and that while they defend the present blessings they enjoy, they are not regard- 
less of posterity. If the sacrifices required be considered in this view ; if they be taken 
in reference to the objects for which we contend, and the evils we are laboring to avert 
great as they may be compared with former exertions, they will appear light in the 
balance. 

" The objects to be attained in the selection of the tax to meet this great increase 
are threefold. One great point is, that the plan should be diffused as extensively as 
possible, without the necessity of such an investigation of property as the customs the 
manners, and the pursuits of' he people would render odious. The next is, that it should 
exclude those who are leasi able to contribute or furnish means of relief. The third 
that it should admit of thosn abatements which, in particular instances, it might be pru- 
dent to make in the portion of those who might be liable under its general principles. 
No scheme, indeed, can be practically carried into execution in any financial arrange- 
ment, much more in one embraced in such difficult circumstances as the present, with 
such perfect dispositions as to guard against hardships in every individual instance- but 
these appear to me to be the principles which should be kept in view in the discussion- 
of the proper method to be adopted for meeting the large deficiency, which, from the con 

Q 



482 APPENDIX. 

traction of the loan, it will become necessary to make good by taxation within the pres- 
ent year."* 

In pursuance of these admirable principles, Mr. Pitt proposed to treble the assessed 
taxes, which fell chiefly on the rich, such as servants, horses, carriages : and that the 
house and window tax, which in a great measure are borne by the middling ranks, should 
only be doubled ; both under various restrictions, to restrain their severity in affecting 
the humbler class of citizens. This was agreed to by the committee of the House of 
Commons ; and thus the first step was made in the new system of contracting the loan 
within narrower limits, and making the supplies raised within the year more nearly 
approach to its expenditure. But the produce of the tax fell greatly short of the expec- 
tations of government, as they had calculated on its reaching seven millions, whereas it 
never cleared four millions and a half; a deficiency which rendered a recurrence to 
borrowing necessary in that very year.t 

The trebled assessed taxes thus imposed, however, were, acccording to Mr. Pitt's plan, 
to be continued only for a limited time, and kept up only as a war burden. " I propose," 
said he, " that the increased assessment now voted shall be continued till the principal 
and interest of the loan contracted this year shall be discharged : so that after the seven 
millions shall have been raised within this year, the same sums continued next year, 
with the additional aid of the sinking fund, will pay off all that principal and inter- 
mediate interest. If you feel yourselves equal to this exertion, its effects will not be 
confined to the benefits I have stated in the way of general policy ; it will go to the 
exoneration of the nation from increased burdens. Unless you feel that you have a 
right to expect that, by less exertion, you will be equally secure, and indulge in the hope 
that, by stopping short of this effort, you will produce a successful termination of the war, 
you must put aside all apprehensions of the present pressure, and by vigorous exertion, 
endeavor to secure your future stability, the happy effects of which will soon be seen 
and acknowledged. I am aware it will be said it would be fortunate if the system of 
funding had never been introduced, and that it is much to be lamented that it is not ter- 
minated ; but if we are arrived at a moment which requires a change of system, it is some 
encouragement for us to look forward to benefits which, on all former occasions, have 
been unknown, because the means of obtaining them were neglected. Raise the pres- 
ent sums by taxation in two years, and you and your posterity are completely exonerated 
from it ; but if, on the other hand, you fund its amount, it will entail an annual tribute 
for its interest, which in forty years will amount to no less than forty millions. These 
are the principles, this is the conduct, this is the language fit for men legislating for a 
country, that from its situation, character, and institutions, bears the fairest chance of 
any in Europe for perpetuity. You should look to distant benefits, and not work in the 
narrow, circumscribed sphere of short-sighted, selfish politicians. You should put to 
yourselves this question, the only one now to be considered, ' Shall we sacrifice, or shall 
we save our posterity a sum of between forty and fifty millions sterling?' And above 
all, you should consider the effect which such a firm and dignified conduct would have on 
the progress and termination of the present contest, which may, without exaggeration, 
involve everything dear to yourselves, and decide the fate of your posterity."!: Here 
was a great change of system, and a remarkable approximation to a more statesmanlike 
and manly mode of raising the supplies required for the existing contest. Instead of 
providing taxes adequate to the interest merely of the sums borrowed, direct burdens 
were now to be imposed, which in two or three years would discharge the whole prin- 
cipal sums themselves : an admirable plan, and the nearest approximation which was 
probably then practicable to the only safe system of finance, that of making the supplies 
raised within the year equal or nearly equal to the expenditure, but which was soon 
departed from amid the necessities or profusion of future years ; and which, from the 
heavy burdens which it imposes at the moment, and from its withdrawing as much capi- 
tal from the private employment of labor as it added to the public, was necessarily at. 
tended both with greatly more suffering, and far less counteracting prosperity, than the 
more encouraging and delusive system of providing for a'l emergencies by lavish bor- 
rowing, which had previously, and for so long a period, be en adopted. 

The new system, thus commenced, was continued with more or less resolution during 
all the remainder of Mr. Pitt's administration. But in spite of the clear perception which 
all statesmen had now attained of the ultimate dangers of the funding system, it was 
found to be impossible to continue the new plan to the full extent originally contem- 
plated by its author. In the next year, the war again broke out under circumstances 
the most favorable to the European powers, and sound policy forbade a niggardly 

* Pari. Hist., xxxiii., 1042, 1045. t Pari. Hist., xxxiii., 1076. t Pari. Hist., xxxiii., 1054, 1055. 



APPENDIX. 483 

system of finance, when, by a great combined effort, it appeared possible to attain, 
during the absence of Napoleon on the sands of Egypt, all the objects of the war in a 
single campaign. Impressed with these considerations, Mr. Pitt proposed the income- 
tax in 1799 ; a great step in financial improvement, and, if considered as a war impost, 
and regulated according to a just scale, the most productive and expedient that could 
be adopted. The grounds on which this great addition to the national burdens was 
proposed, were thus stated by Mr. Pitt : " The principles of finance which the House 
adopted last year were, first, to reduce the total amount to be at present raised by loan ; 
and next, to provide for the deficiency by a temporary tax, which should extinguish the 
loan within a limited time. The modifications, however, which it became necessary to 
introduce into the increase of the assessed taxes last year, considerably reduced its 
amount, and it is now necessary to look for some more general and productive impost, 
which may enable us to continue the same system of restraining the annual loan within 
reasonable limits. With this view, it is my intention that the presumption on which 
the assessed taxes is founded shall be laid aside, and that a general tax shall be imposed 
on all the leading branches of income. No scale, indeed, can be adopted which shall 
not be attended with occasional hardship, or withdraw from the fraudulent the means 
of evasion ; but I trust that all who value the national safety will cooperate in the 
desirable purpose of obtaining, by an eiiicient and comprehensive tax upon real ability, 
every advantage which flourishing and invigorated resources can confer upon national 
efforts."* 

In pursuance of these principles, he proposed that no income under £60 a year 
should pay anything; that from that up to ,£200 a year, it should be on a graduated 
scale ; and that for £200 a year and upward, it should be ten per cent. No one was 
to be called on to disclose to the commissioners ; but if he declined, he was to be liable 
to be assessed at the sum which they should fix : if he gave in a statement of his 
receipts, he was, if required, to confirm it on oath. Funded property was to be assessed 
as well as any other sources of income, and the profits of tenants were to be estimated 
at three-fourths of the rack-rent of their lands. The total taxable income of Great 
Britain he estimated at £102,000,000 a year, and calculated the produce of the tax at 
ten millions sterling. In consideration of this great supply, he proposed to reduce the 
trebled assessed taxes to their former level, and to restrict the loan to £9,500,000, for 
which the income-tax was to be mortgaged, after the mortgage imposed for the loan of 
the former year had been discharged. t 

In opposition to this bill, it was urged by Sir William Pultney and a considerable 
body of respectable members, " That the general and wise policy of the country, from 
the Revolution downward, had been to lay taxes on consumption, and consumption only ; 
and to this there was no exception but the land tax# which was of inconsiderable 
amount ; for even the window tax was a burden on a luxury which might be diminished 
at pleasure. Now, however, the dangerous precedent is introduced of levying a heavy 
impost, not on expenditure or consumption, but income : that is, of imposing a burden 
which by no possibility can be avoided. If this principle be once introduced, it is 
impossible to say where the evil may stop : for what is to hinder the government to 
increase the tax to a fifth, a third, or even a half; that is, to introduce the confiscations 
which have always distinguished arbitrary governments, and have been in an especial 
manner the disgrace of the French Revolution ? The great danger of this tax, there- 
fore, is, that it not only sanctions a most odious and dangerous .inquisition into 
every man's affairs, but it is so calculated as to weigh with excessive severity on the 
middling orders of society, while it would bear but slightly in comparison upon the 
highest, and totally exempt the losvest. It would destroy the middling class, and do it 
• soon ; it would totally prevent the accumulation of small capitals, the great source of 
general prosperity, and then we should have only two classes in the community, and a 
miserable community it would be, of noblemen and peasants. The principle that 
every man should contribute according to his means is doubtless just; but is this a 
contribution according to means? Quite the contrary ; it is a tax which falls with un- 
due severity upon some classes, and improper lightness on others. A person possessing 
permanent and independent income might spend what portion of it he chose without 
injury to his heirs ; but income resulting from personal industry or from profession stood 
in a very different situation, for it was necessary that a part of the income of these 
descriptions should be laid by as a provision for old age or helpless families. Experu 
diture, therefore, is the only sure criterion of taxation, because it alone is accommodated 
to the circumstances or necessities of each individual taxed : and if a few misers, 

• Pari. Hist., xxxiv., 5. 6. t Pari. Hist., xssiv., 6, 18, 22. 

Q2 



484 APPENDIX. 

under such a system, may avoid contributing their proper share, they are only postponing 
the day of payment to their heirs, who in all probability will be the more extravagant ; 
and far better that such insulated individuals should escape, than the far-spread 
injustice should be inflicted, which would result from the adoption^of the proposed 
alteration."* 

The income-tax, notwithstanding these objections, was adopted by the House of 
Commons in the year 1799 ; the loan of that year being, for Great Britain and Ireland, 
i;i8,500,000, besides ^£3,000,000 of Exchequer bills. But in comparing the amount 
of the loans which would have been necessary if this system of increasing the supplies 
raised within the year had not been adopted, with that actually contracted under the 
new system, it was satisfactorily shown by Mr. Pitt that no less than £120,000,000 
would ultimately be saved to the nation by the more manly policy, when the interest 
which was avoided was taken into account : a striking proof of the extraordinary dif- 
ference to the ultimate resources of a country, which arises from raising the supplies 
within the year, and providing them in great part by the funding system. t 

The regulation of Mr. Pitt, however, in regard to these direct taxes, was, in one im- 
portant particular, a deviation from his general financial policy, and the embarrassing 
consequences of this deviation speedily became conspicuous. At the first imposition 
of the treble assessment, it was intended as an extraordinary resource, which there was 
no likelihood would be required beyond one or two years, and, in consequence, it was 
mortgaged for a considerable proportion of the loans contracted in the years when it was 
in operation ; and the same principle was continued when it was commuted for the 
income-tax. But when this system continued for several years in succession, it came 
to violate the principle that these direct taxes, being a painful impost, should be con- 
tinued only while the war lasted ; for in the years from 1798 to 1801 the amount thus 
fixed as a preferable burden on the direct war taxes was no less than fifty-six millions. 
The magnitude of this mortgage obliged Mr. Pitt, in 1801, to return to his old mode of 
contracting loans, by providing, in the increase of indirect taxes, for their interest and 
the sinking fund required for their redemption ; and in 1802, when Mr. Addington came 
to arrange the finances for a peace establishment, he got quit altogether of this embar- 
rassing load on the direct taxes, which would have required them, contrary to all prin,t 
ciple, to be continued for nine years after the war had ceased, and boldly funded at 
once the whole of this £56,000,000, as well as £40,000,000 of unfunded debt which 
existed at the end of the war; and for the whole of this immense sum of £96,000,000 
he contrived to find sufficient taxes, even when adhering to Mr. Pitt's system of making 
provision in the funding of loans, not only for its annual interest, but the sinking fund 
destined for its redemption. There can be no doubt but this was a very great improve- 
ment, and that it restored this branch of our finances to their true principle, which is, 
that the whole sums required for the interest and redemption of the debt should be 
raised by indirect taxes, and direct burdens reserved only for the extraordinary efforts 
intended during the continuance of the war — to make the supplies raised within the 
year as nearly as possible equal its expenditure. t 

The changes which have now been mentioned embraced all the leading principles 
of Mr. Pitt's financial system. In subsequent years the same policy was adopted which 
had been introduced with so much success in later times, of augmenting as much as 
possible the supplies raised within the year, and diiuinishing as much as might be the 
loan which it was still necessary annually to contract. And of the success with which 
this system was attended, and the rapid growth of the machinery erected for the ex- 
tinction of the debt, the best evidence is preserved in the honest testimony of his Whig 
successor in the important office of cliancellor of the Excheqiier : " In the year 1803," 
said Lord Henry Petty, afterward Lord Lansdowne, " the proportions of the sinking 
fund to the unredeemed debt was as one to eighty-two; the former being £5,835,000, 
and the latter £480,572,000. But in the year ending the 1st of February, 1806, the 
sinking fund amounted to £7,566,000, and the unredeemed debt was then £517,280,000, 
making the proportion one in sixty-eight. After this, it is unnecessary for me to enter 
into any eulogium on the sinking fund, or to detain the House with any panegyric on 
its past effects or future prospects. Its advantages are now fully felt in the price of 
stock and contracting of loans; and, independent of all considerations of good faith, 
which would induce the House to cling to it as their sheet-anchor for the future, they 
were pledged to support it, having had positive experience of its utility. And of the 
vast importance of raising a great part of the supplies within the year, no better proof 
can be desired than is furnished by the fact that during the first ten years of the war 

• Pari. Hist., xxjwiv., 134. 147. T lb. x.xxiv., 1153. t Pari. Deb., viii., 573, 576 



APPENDIX. 485 

the increase of the debt was ;£253,000,000, being at the rate, on an average, of twenty, 
five millions a year ;* whereas during the three years of the present war, from 1803 
downward, the total sum borrowed has been jC36,000,000, being at the rate of twelve 
millions a year only." 

With the exception, however, of the war taxes thus imposed for a special purpose, 
and which were pledged to be temporary burdens, enduring only for the year in which 
they were raised, or at most for a year or two after it, all the other taxes imposed by 
Mr. Pitt were in the indirect form. And in particular, the interest of the loans annually 
contracted, when laid as a permanent burden on the nation, and for the immediate re- 
demption of the principals of which the war taxes were not mortgaged, as was done in 
1799, were all provided for in this mitigated form. The wisdom of this arrangement 
cannot be better stated than in the words of Mr. Hume : " The best taxes are such as 
are levied upon consumption, especially those of luxury, because such taxes are least 
felt by the people. They seem in some measure voluntary, since a man may choose 
how far he will use the commodity which is taxed. They are paid gradually and in- 
sensibly; they naturally produce sobriety and frugality, if judiciously imposed; and, 
being confounded %vith the natural price of the commodity, they are scarcely perceived 
by the consumers. Their only disadvantage is, that they are expensive in the levying. 
Taxes, again, upon possessions, are levied without expense, but have every other dis- 
advantage. Most statesmen are obliged to have recourse, however, to them, in order to 
supply the deficiencies of the other. Historians inform us that one of the chief causes 
of the destruction of the Roman state was the alterations which Constantine introduced 
into the finances, by substitutLug a universal direct tax in lieu of almost all the tithes, 
customs, and excise which formerly composed the revenue of the Empire. The people 
in all the provinces were so grinded by this imposition, that they were glad to take 
refuge under the conquering arms of the barbarians, whose dominion, as they had fewer 
necessities and less art, was found to be preferable to the refined tyranny of the Ro- 
mans. '"t It is to be regarded, therefore, as a capital excellence in Mr. Pitt's financial 
measures, that he not only provided in permanent imposts for the interest of the whole 
public debt and the sinking fund necessary for its redemption, but made that provision 
exclusively in taxes in the indirect form, the burden of which is imperceptible, and is 
never the subject of any general complaint ; whereas the direct taxes, which are always 
felt as so oppressive, were reserved, as a last resource, for the unavoidable exigencies 
of war, and specially set apart for those years only when the excitement and necessities 
of the actual contest were experienced. 

In addition to these forcible reasons for ever, except in cases of obvious necessity, 
and when its resources are exhausted, preferring indirect to direct taxation, there is 
another of perhaps still greater importance, which has never yet met with the attention 
it deserves. It has often been observed with surprise by travellers, that though the 
sums which are extracted from the people in a direct form by the Turkish pachas or the 
Indian rajahs have frequently the effect of totally ruining industry, yet they are incon- 
siderable when compared to the immense revenue derived from the customs and excise 
in the European states, without any sensible impediment to its exertions. The reason 
is obvious : it consists in the difference upon the meadows beneath, between drawing 
off water from the fountain-head and drawing it ofi'at a vast distance below, after it has 
fertilized innumerable plains in its course. If you abstract money in a direct form from 
the cultivator or the artisan, the revenue taken goes at once from the producer to the 
public treasury ; but if you withdraw it from the person who ultimately sells the manu- 
factured article to the consumer, it has, before it is withdrawn, put the industry of a 
dozen different classes of persons in motion. The sum received by the government 
may be the same in both cases : but how immense the difference between the effect 
upon general industry when it is seized upon by the tax-collector early in its course, and 
only withdrawn after it has given all the encouragement to different branches of employ- 
ment it is capable of effecting! Fifty different individuals are often put to their shifts 
to meet the burden of aji indirect tax — a direct one falls in undivided severity on one 
alone. So important is this distinction, that it may safely be affirmed that no nation 
ever yet was ruined by indirect taxation; nor can it be so, for before it becomes oppres- 
hive it must cease to be productive. Many, however, have been exterminated by much 
smaller sums levied in the direct form, that method of raising the supplies being attended 
with this most dangerous quality, that it is often most productive when it is trenching most 
deeply on the sources of future existence. 

Nor is there any foundation for the obvious reply to this argument, based on the ob- 

* Ann. Reg. 1806, 70. Pari. Ueb.. vi., 567, 570. t Hume's Essays, i., 3C5, 3C6. 

Q 3 



486 APPENDIX. 

servation, that if the productions of industry are taxed in the person of the consumer, he 
must diminish the quantity which he can purchase, and thus industry will be as effectu- 
ally paralyzed as if the impost were laid directly upon the producer. Plausible as this 
aro-ument undoubtedly is, the common sense and experience of mankind have every- 
where rejected its authority. No complaint was made during the war of fifty-five mil- 
lions levied annually, by means of indirect taxes, on the people of Great Britain ; but 
so burdensome was the income-tax, producing only fourteen millions a year, felt to be, 
that all the efforts of government could not keep it on for one year after its termination. 
When the voice of the people was direcdy admitted, through the portals opened by the 
Reform Bill, upon the Legislature, it was not the forty-two millions levied annually in the 
indirect form, but the four million and a half extracted directly by the assessed taxes, 
which was made the subject of such loud complaint that a great reduction in those bur- 
dens became mdispensable. The people, however unfit to judge of most matters in 
legislation, may be referred to as good authority in the estimation of the burdens which 
are most oppressive upon them at the moment. Nor is it difficult to perceive the reason 
of this universal opinion among all practical men, how adverse soever it may be to the 
theoretical opinions of philosophers. Indirect taxes, if judiciously laid on, and not car- 
ried to such an excess as to render them unproductive, often do not, in reality, fall on 
any one individual with overwhelming severity; they are defrayed by the economy, skill, 
or improved machinery of all the many persons who are employed in the manufacture 
of the taxed article. The burden is so divided as to be imperceptible. Portioned out 
among fifteen or twenty different hands, the share falling on each is easily compensated. 
A slight increase in the economy of the manufacturer, a trifling improvement in the 
machinery of its production, in the many hands engaged in its preparation, more than 
extinguish the burden. The proof of this is decisive : the manufactures of England not 
only existed, but prospered immensely, under the combined pressure of the heavy in- 
direct taxation and the enormous rise of prices occasioned by the suspension of cash 
payments during the war; many of them, though the value of money had fallen to a half 
during its continuance, were sold at half the price at its termination which they were 
at its commencement. Of all the parts of Mr. Pitt's financial system, none was more 
worthy of admiration than that which provided for all the permanent expenses of the 
nation in the indirect taxes: of all the errors committed by his successors, none has been 
more prejudicial than the obstinate retention of direct, and the lavish relinquishment of 
indirect taxes.* 

* It results from these principles, that when an indirect tax is very heavy, and laid on a raw material, or one 
subjected to but a slight manufacturing process, it is frequently impossible for the producer eitlier to conspeiisate 
the tax by increased skill or economy of the article or lay it upon the consumer. In such cases the tax ceases to 
be an indirect impost on consumption ; it becomes a direct burden on production, and if unduly heavy, may ter- 
minatfe in the total ruin of the class on whom it was mipused, A signal instance of this occurred in regard to the 
heavy impost duties upon sugar. The burden formerly of 30s., then 27s., and now of 21s. the hundred weight on 
West India sugar, was little lelt during the war, when that article sold for forty or forty-five pounds the hogshead 
(from j£6 to £6 10s., the cwt. ;) but when, on the return of peace, prices fell to £12 or £15 the hogshead, (from 50s. 
to 60s. the cwt., including duty,) it became intolerably severe. It then became nearly a hundred per cent, on the 
rude material ; the same as if a duty of tifty shillings a quarter had been laid on wheat raised in Kngland for the 
home consumption. Nor had either the planter or retiner tlie means of eluding this tax to any considerable de- 
gree, by either raising the price of the article to the consumer, or diminishing by economy or machinery the cost 
of its production : the cost of raising rude agricultural produce can hardly ever be diminished to any considera- 
ble extent by the application of machinery ; and tlie stoppage of the slave-trade necessarily, in the first instance 
at least, increased the cost of production, while the only way in which it seemed possible to render the burden 
tolerable was by augmenting the quantity raised, which necessarily depressed to an undue extent the price which 
it bore in the market. Being unable to diminish the cost of production ti'om these causes, all the eflbrts of the 
plantere to make head against their difficulties and defray the interest of their mortgages, by raising more exten- 
sive crops of sugar, only tended to lower prices and throw the taxes as an exclusive burden on themselves. 
The proof of this is decisive : the price of sugar in America is generally higher than in England, if the duty be 
deducted, sometimes by fully a third. In 1831, the price per cwt. was in Great Britain 23s. 8d., excluding duty, 
while in America it was 36s. per cwt. in the same year. Taking into view the greater expense of freight to Bri- 
tain than America from these islands, there can be no doubt that almost the whole tax has been paid in many 
years by the producers, amounting though it now does to 100 per cent. Nothing more is requisite to explain the 
almost total ruin which has fallen on these splendid colonies, even before the last fatal measure of emancipating 
the slaves was carried into effect.— See Commons^ Report, 1832, o?i TVest Indies, p. 7. 

In all fiscal measures on this subject there is one principle to be constantly kept in view, to the neglect or over- 
sight of which, more than anything else, the ruin of the West Indies is to be ascribed. This is, that while many 
branches of manufacturing industry possess the means, by improvements in machinery or tlie division of labor, 
of compensating very heavy fiscal burdens, the raisers ofrude produce can hardly ever do the same: so that, unless 
they can succeed in laying the tax upon the consumer, which is very often altogether beyond their power, they 
are forced to pay it entirely themselves, and it becomes a ruinous direct burden on industry. No doubt can ex- 
ist on this head, when it is recollected not merely how slight is the improvement which agriculture has ever re- 
ceived from the aid of machinery, but that, while in the most highly civilized states, such as England, the cost 
of raising manufactures is always, notwithstanding heavy taxes and a plentiful currency, less tlian iu ruder 



APPENDIX. 487 

Such were the general features of Mr. Pitt's financial policy. Decried by the spirit 
of party during his own lifetime, and that of the generation which immediately suc- 
ceeded ; stigmatized by the age which found itself oppressed by the weight of the bur- 
dens he had imposed, and which had forgotten the ev^s he had averted; obliterated 
almost, amid the temporary expedients and conceding weakness of the governments by 
whom he was succeeded, it is yet calculated to stand the test of ages, and appears now 
in imperishable lustre from the bitter and experienced, though now irrevocable conse- 
quences of its abandonment. Grandeur of conception, durability of design, far-seeing 
sagacity, were its great chai-acteristics. It was truly conceived in a heroic spirit. Bur- 
dening, perhaps oppressing the present generation, it was calculated for the relief of fu- 
ture ages : inflicting on its authors a load of present odium, it was fitted to secure the 
blessings of posterity when they were mouldering in their graves. Founded on that 
sacrifice of the present to the future which is at once the greatest violence to ordinary 
inclinations, the invariable mark of elevated understanding, and the necessary antece- 
dent of great achievements, it required for its successful development patience, self- 
denial, and magnanimity in subsequent statesmen equal to his own. It fell because such 
virtues could not be found in the age by which he was succeeded. In contemplating 
his profound plans for the ultimate and speedy liberation of England, even from the 
enormous burdens entailed on its finances by the Revolutionary war, we feel that we 
are conversing with one who lived for distant ages, and who voluntarily underwent, not 
the fatigues which are forgotten in the glory of the conqueror, but the obloquy conse- 
quent on the firmness of the statesman in the prosecution of what he felt to be for the 
ultimate good of the nation. In comparing his durable designs with the temporary ex- 
pedients of the statesmen who preceded and followed him, we experience the same 
painful transition as in passing from the contemplation of the stately monuments of an- 
cient Egypt, WTOught in granite, and calculated for eternal duration, to that of the gaudy 
but ephemeral palaces of the Arabs, who dwell amid their ruins, and whose brilliancy 
cannot conceal the perishable nature of the materials of which they are composed. 

While doing justice, however, to the great qualities oi'this iUustrious financier, it is 
indispensable not to draw a veil over his faults ; and the application of his own princi- 
ples to the measures which he sometimes adopted will best explain the particulars in 
which he was led astray. 

I. The first great defect which history must impute to the financial measures of Mr. 
Pitt, is having carried too far and continued too long the funding system, and not earlier 
adopted that more manly policy of raising as large a portion as possible of the supplies 
within the year, the benefits of which he himself afterward so fully explained. During 
the years 1793 and 1794, indeed, when formidable armies menaced France on every 
side, and the iron barrier of the Netherlands was broken through to an extent never 
achieved by Marlborough or Eugene, a speedy termination of the war might reasonably 
be expected, and it was just, therefore, to lay the vast expenses of those years in a great 
degree on the shoulders of posterity. But after that crisis was passed ; after Flanders 
and Holland had yielded to the victorious arms of Pichegru ; after Spain had retired 
from the struggle, and the Republic, instead of contending for its existence on the Rhine, 
was pursuing under Napoleon, the career of conquest in Italy, it had become evident 
that a protracted contest was to be expected, and measures of finance suitable to such 
a state of things should have been adopted. The resolute system of raising a consider- 
able portion of the supplies within the year should have been embraced, at latest, in 
1796, and the enormous loans of that and the two following years reduced to one half. 
Those loans amounted to seventy-five millions ; if forty millions had been raised in the 
time by taxation, in addition to the imposts actually paid, the difference in the sum since 
paid by the nation down to this time, on, account of the loans of those years, would have 
been above ^120,000,000 ! So prodigious is the difference in the ultimate accumula- 
tion of burdens, between the energetic and intrepid system of raising a large portion of 
the supplies within the year, and the more acceptable but delusive policy of providing 
at the miimcnt only for the interest, and leaving to posterity the charge of providing for 
the liquidation of the principal. 

II. But if the insidious advantages of the funding were to be preferred to the ultimate 

states, it is always much greater of producing agricultural produce. Great Britain can undersell the world in 
manufactures, but her farmers would be ruined without aconi-law; a fact strikingly illustrative of this vital 
distinction, and pointing to a very different rate of indirect taxation when applied to rude produce and manu- 
factured articles, which has never yet met with adequate attention.— See Bernard's Theory of the Constitu- 
tion. 35(3, 358; a work which, amid much exaggeration and declamation, contains many just and profound ob- 
servations on the changes the country has undergone during the last half century, and is deserving of much more 
attention tlian it has received. 



! 

488 APPENDIX. 

benefits of the taxing system, it was indispensable that the warlike resources of the state 
should have been put forth on a scale and in a way calculated to reap sudden advan- 
ta^es commensurate to the immense burdens thus imposed on posterity ; that the con- 
test, if gigantic and expensive, ^^as at least to be short and decisive. That the military 
power of England was capable, if properly directed and called forth, of making such an 
effort, is now established by experience. 

The more the history of the campaigns from 1793 to 1800 are studied, the more 
clearly will it appear that the armies of France and the coalition were very equally 
poised ; that the scale sometimes preponderated to one side and sometimes to the other, 
but without any decisive advantage to either party. After three years of protracted 
strife, the Republican armies, in the close of 1795 were still combating for existence on 
the Rhine, and gladly accepted a temporary respite from the victorious amis of Ciair- 
fait : after three additional years of desperate warfare, they were struggling for the 
frontiers of the Var and the Jura with the terrible armies of Suwarrow and the Arch- 
duke Charles. No doubt can remain, therefore, that the forces on the opposite sides of 
that great contest were, at that period at least, extremely nearly matched. With what 
effect, then, might the arms of England have been thrown in upon the scene of war- 
fare ; and how would the balance, so long quivering in equilibrium, have been sub- 
verted by the addition of fifty thousand British soldiers on the theatre of Blenheim or 
Ramilies ! Herein, therefore, lay the capital error of Mr. Pitt's financial system, con- 
sidered with reference to the warlike operations it was intended to promote, that while 
the former was calculated for a temporary efTort only, and based on the principle of 
great results being obtained in a short time by an extravagant system of expenditure, 
the latter was arranged on the plan of the most niggardly exertion of the national 
strength, and the husbanding of its resources for future efforts, totally inconsistent with 
the lavish dissipation of its present funds. No one would have regretted the great 
loans from 1793 to 1799, amounting though they did to a hundred and fifty millions 
sterling, if proportional efforts in the field had at the same time been made ; and it 
was evident that nothing had been omitted which could have conduced to the earlier 
termination of the war ; but our feelings are very different when we recollect that du. 
ring these six years, big with the fate of England and the world, only 208,000 men were 
raised for the regular army, and that a nation reposing securely in a sea-girt and inac- 
cessible citadel never had above twenty thousand soldiers in the field, and that only in 
the first two years of the war, out of a disposable force of above a hundred thousand. 
Mr. Pitt's plans for military operations were all based on the action of Continental ar- 
mies, while the troops of his own country were chiefly employed in distant colonial ex- 
peditions ; picking up pawns in this manner at the extremity of the board, when by 
concentrated moves he might have given checkmate to his adversary at the commence- 
ment of the game. His military successes, in consequence, amounted to nothing, while 
his financial measures were daily increasing the debt in a geometrical progression : 
and thence, in a gi'eat measure, the loi:ig duration and heavy burdens of the war. 

III. But the greatest of all Mr. Pitt's errors, and the one which was the most inex- 
cusable, because it was most at variance with the admirable foresight and enduring for- 
titude of his other financial measures, was the extent to which he carried the ruinous 
system of borrowing in the three per cents. ; in other words, inscribing the public cred- 
itor for i^lOO in the books of the Bank of England, in consideration of only sixty ad- 
vanced to the nation. That this policy had the effect of lowering the interest of the 
loans contracted, and thereby diminishing the burdens at the moment, may be perfectly 
true, but what was the advantage thus gained, compared to the enormous burden of 
saddling the nation with the payment of forty pounds additional to every sixty which 
it had received ? The benefit was temporary and inconsiderable ; the evil permanent 
and most material. Of the seven hundred and eighty millions which now compose the 
national debt, about six hundred millions has been contracted in the three per cents. ; 
and if this whole debt were to be paid off at par, the nation would have to pay, in all, 
two hundred and fifty millions more than it ever received. Supposing it to be redeemed 
by a sinking fund at 80, on an average, which, taking a course of years together, of 
peace and war, is probably not far from the mark, and which coincides with Mr. Pitt's 
estimate in 1799, the surplus to be paid above what was received would still be two 
hundred millions. 

Nor have the evils of this most improvident system of borrowing been limited to the 
great addition thus unnecessarily made to the capital of the national debt. Its effect 
upon the burden of the interest has been equally unfortunate. Doubtless the loans 
were, in the first instance, contracted during the war on more favorable terms, as to in- 



APPENDIX, 



489 



terest, than could have been obtained if the money had been boiTowed in the five per 
cents. ; that is, if a bond for £100 had been given for each iJlOO only paid into the 
treasury. But, as a set-off against this temporary and inconsiderable advantage, what 
!s to be said to the experienced impossibility, with funds so contracted, of lowering the 
interest in time of peace ? It is impossible to lower the interest of the three per cents, 
till interest generally falls below three per cent. ; because, if it were attempted when 
the rate was higher, all the stockholders would immediately demand their money, and 
government, being unable to borrow below the market rate, would become bankrupt. 
Nevertheless, it may safely be affirmed that interest, on an average, since 1815, has 
not exceeded, if it has reached, four per cent. Had the national debt all been con- 
tracted in the five per cents, it might all have been subjected to the operation which 
in 1824 proved so successful with the five per cents., and which, on £157,000,000 only 
of the debt, the amount of that stock, saved the nation at that time £1,700,000 a year, 
to which is to be added the half of that sum since gained by the reduction of the same 
stock to three and a half, which, after taking into view the dissentients, has saved the 
nation, for ever, £2,400,000 yearly. Calculating the interest of the £600,000,000 in the 
three per cents. (£360,000,000 sterling) at £18,000,000 a year, the proportion of this 
annual burden, which would have been saved by the first reduction of one per cent., 
would have been £3,600,000, and by the second of half per cent., £1,800,000 more ; 
in all £5,400,000 for ever. The sum already saved to the nation, on interest alone, paid 
since 1824, would have been above fifty millions sterling. Every twenty years, in fu- 
ture, the sum saved, with interest, would exceed a hundred and fifty millions a year ! 

The temporary reduction of interest obtained by contracting the debt in this ruinous 
manner will bear no sort of comparison with these serious losses with which the sys- 
tem was ultimately attended. It appears, from the curious table of loans contracted 
during the war, compiled by Moreau, that the difference in the interest of the loans in 
the three per cents, and the five per cents, was seldom above a half per cent., gene- 
rally not more than a quarter.* What is the additional burden thus undertaken during 
the contest, to the permanent reduction which the opposite system would have enabled 
government to have effected on the return of peace ? Even supposing the difference 
>f interest on the loans while the war lasted had been on an average one per cent., 
what was this burden, during its continuance, to the reduction of the interest/or ever to 
four or three and a half per cent. ? This thing is so clear that it will not admit of an 
argument ; and if the public necessities had rendered it impossible to have raised 
the additional interest during the year, it would have been better to have con- 
tracted an additional loan every year while the disability lasted, to defray the additional 
interest, than, by contracting the debt on such disadvantageous terms, disabled poster, 
ity for ever from taking advantage of the return of peace to effect a permanent reduc- 
tion of the public debts. So strongly, indeed, has the impolicy of this mode of con- 
trading debt now impressed itself upon the minds of our statesmen, that by a solemn 



* Take, for example, the folowing loans, contracted in the three and five per cents, at different periods during 
the war : 





Sums borrowed, ac- 
tually paid into 
"Treasury. 


Interest. 


Rate per cent. 




£1,907,451 
10,806,000 

1,490,646 
17,777,16:^ 

2,034,889 

8,500,000 
17,815,918 
13,000,000 

2,227,012 
27,519,544 

1,293,200 
10,800,000 

7,932,100 
11,600,000 

4,909,a30 
11,925,243 

5,,54.9,400 
12,^15,076 
10,313,000 
27,000.000 


£96,326 
602,791 
80,494 
841,374 
101,744 
493,145 

1,006,242 
825,500 
111,380 

1,314,487 
64,660 
512,400 

408,878 
538,433 
258,315 
569,500 
277,470 
574,362 
603,310 
1,517,400 


5 per cent. 

a per cent. 

5J per cent. 

a per cent. 

5 per cent. 

5J per cent. 

5i per cent. 

51 per cent. 

5| per cent. 

5j per cent. 

5J per cent. 

4i per c«nt. ; but £140 of stock 

each £60 paid. 

5} ijercent. 

4t per cent. 

^ per cent. 

4; per cent. 

5 1-7 per cent 

41 per cent. 

5 4-5 per cent. 

5i per cent. 














































created for 




do in 3 and 4 per cents. . . 




do in 3 and 4 per cents... 












do in 3 and 4 percents... 





-SeePEBRER's Tables, 246, from Moreau. 

It clearly appears, from this most instructive table, that the difference between the interest paid on loans in the 
three and five per cents., from the beRinning to the end of the war, varied only from a half to an eighth per cent. 
And the real difference was even less than here appears, for the public creditors were, frequently in the 3 per cents., 
inscribed for much more than £100 in consideration of £60 advanced. In particular, in 1807, they received no less 

Jian £140 of stock for each £60 paid. 



490 



APPENDIX. 



resolution in 1824, Parliament pledged itself never again, under any pressure, to bor- 
row money in any other way than in the five per cents. ; a resolution worthy of the 
British Legislature, and which it is devoutly to be hoped no British statesman will ever 
forget, but which is too likely to be overlooked, like so many other praiseworthy deter, 
minations, amid the warlike profusion or Democratic pressure of subsequent times.* 

It is true, as Mr. Pitt contemplated the extinction of the whole public debt before the 
year 1846 by the operation of the sinking fund, and had provided means, which, if stead, 
ily adhered to, would unquestionably have produced that result even at an earlier pe- 
riod, the disastrous eilects which have actually occurred from this mode of contracting 
so large a portion of the debt are not to be charged so strongly as an error in his finan- 
cial system. In the contracting of loans, present relief was, in his estimation, the great 
object to be considered, because the means of certainly redeeming them within a mod- 
erate period, on the return of peace, were simultaneously provided. It was of compar- 
atively little importance that the interest of the three per cents, could not be reduced 
during peace, when the speedy liquidation of the principal itself might be anticipated ; 
and the addition of nearly double the stock to the sum borrowed appeared of trifling 
moment, when the only mode of redeeming the debt which any one contemplated was 
the purchase of stock by the sinking fund commissioners at the current market rates. 
Still, though these considerations go far to excuse, they do by no means exculpate Mr. 
Pitt in these measures. Admitting that the reduced rate of interest during the war 
might be considered as a fair set-otf against the enhanced rate for the pacific period of 
nearly the same amount which elapsed before the debt was discharged, still what is to 
be said in favor of a system which redeems at 85 or 90 a debt contracted at 58 or 60 ? 
In looking forward to this method of liquidating the debt, as calculated to obviate all 
the evils of inscribing the public creditor for a larger amount of stock than he had ad- 
vanced of «noney, Mr. Pitt forgot the certain enhancement of the price of stock by the 
admirable sinking fund which he himself had established, and that the more strongly 
and justly he elucidated the salutary tendency of its machinery to uphold the public credit, 
the more clearly did he demonstrate the ruinous effect of a method of borrowing which 
turned all that advance to the disadvantage of the nation in discharging its engagements.! 



* The author was early in life impressed with the disastrous effects of this borrowing in tlie three per cents., but 
it was long before he found any converts to an opinion now generally received. In the year 1813, when a student 
at college, he maintained the doctrines stated in the text on this subject, in a company consisting of the most emi- 
nent and intelligent bankers in Scotland ; and, in particular, contended that, if Mr. Pitt could not have afforded 
to pay annually from the taxes a larger interest for his loans than he actually undertook, he should have " bor- 
rowed a little loan to pay the interest of the great loan, rather than have conlracted'debt in the three per cents." 
They all, however, disputed the justice of the opinion, maintaining that money could not have been obtained on 
other terms, and the " little loan " became a standing joiie against the author for many years after. Should 
these lines meet the eye of Mr. Anderson of Moredun, one of the oldest and most valued of the author's friends, 
and now one of the leading partners of the highly respectable firm of Sir William Forbes & Co., of Edinburgh, 
he will recur, perhaps, not without interest, to this incident. 

t It is a common opinion, that the great expenses of Mr. Pitt's administration were owing to tlie subsidies so 
imprudently and needlessly advanced to foreign powers, to induce orenablethera to carry on the contest. This, 
however is a mistake. The loans and subsidies to foreign powers during the whole war only amounted to £32,- 
528,470; of which no less than £33,000,000 were advanced during the last three years. At Mr. Pitt's death the 
sum was only £6,370,000. The subsidies granted, witli the years wlien they were received, and the other items of 
the expenditure of the war, were as follows.— (Moreau.) 





Subsidies 

to Foreign 

Powers. 


Army. 


Civil List. 


Ordnance. 


Navy Total. 


Total charge 

of Debt, 
Funded and 
Unfunded. 


Total 




Ordinary. ^^^_ 


Expenditure. 


1793 


£2,198,200 


£4,167,312 


£1,021,536 


£843,603 


£2.4tH,307 


£10,715,941 


£22,7;54,306 


1794 


4,000 


, 9,209,236 


1,027,761 


1,500,767 


4,2U),t56 


11,081,159 


29,305,477 


1793 


810,,500 


* 14,562,737 


1,025,842 


1,968,008 


8,135,140 


12,345,987 


39,751,091 


1793 


99,50» 


13,738.350 


1,125,053 


2,-590,000 


7,780,868 


13,683,129 


40,761,583 


1797 




16,208,690 


1,081,0*; 


2,121„552 


11,981,031 


16,405,402 


50,7.39,a57 


1798 


120,012 


7,986,2971 3,165,854 


1,111,-376 


i-H?'3->5 


12,-591,728 


20.108,885 


51,241,798 


1799 


325,000 


9,818,7161 4,241,433 


1,208,067 


2,221,-516 


13,036,490 


21,572,867 


59,2.96.081 


1800 


2,613,178 


9 971 wi 3 Kiw.nod 


1,247,420 


1,918,967 


14,80'.1,488 


21,661,029 


61,617.988 


1801 


200,U4 


8:83f^V3-^ \- > <"-! 


1,290,136 


2,1 6", .909 


17,303,370 


23,808,^)5 


73.072,468 


1802 




6,951,1 ' - ' ■ - 


1,3:«,766 


',50;l,735 


11.704,400 


25,4-36,894 


62,-373.480 


1803 





8,134,.-.i. .;.l'',-':i 


1,425,545 


1,827,1.50 


7,979,878 


25,066,212 


54,912,S» 


1804 





12,lS3,8iH^ 3,r>wl.hi(4 


1,417,.517 


3,550,142 


11,7,59,352 


26.669,646 


67,619,475 


1805 





10,7.58,3431 6,261,387 


1,914,104 


1,.782,289 


14.4*,998 


38,963,702 


76,056,796 


180tj 





9,282.4921 5.829,000 


1,676,.S23 


5,-511,fli;4 


16,081,028 


30,a%,859 


75,1,54,548 


1807 





9,9.56,6»J 


5,4.31,867 


1,680,061 


4,190,748 


18,775,762 


32.052,537 


78,3.59,689 


1808 


1,400,000 


11,353,890 


5,847,762 


1,724,147 


5,108,960 


17,4(i7,891 


32,781,592 


81,797,080 


1809 


2,(r)0,ooo 


12,591,041 


5,872,054 


l,6%^994 


4,374.184 


19,236,037 


33,986,223 


88.792,551 


1810 


2,660,103 


11,3.57,623 


7,178,677 


1,6.51,297 


4,652,333 


20,0.54,412 


35,248,933 


74,360,728 


1811 


2,977,747 


13,753,163 


10,116,196 


1,582,097 


4,-557,509 


19,540,679 


36,388,790 


99,604241 


1812 


5.315,828 


15,.382,050 


9,605,313 


1,748,319 


4,252,416 


20,.50O,339 


88,443,147 


107,644,085 


1813 


11.294,416 


18,500,985 


10.968..T35 


1,708,526 


3,404,-582 


21,996,624 


41,755,2:35 


^ 122,235,660 


1814 


10,024.624 


16,532.945) 17.(i62,610 


1,675,1.52 


4.480,729 


21,9t>l,567 


42,912,440 


129,742.399 


1815 


11,035,218 


23,172,137 


1,682,021 


2,963,»:i2 
71,082.263 


16,373,870 
328,236,415 


43,902,989 
619,8-30,178 


130,305,958 


Totals 


53,128,470 


384.7i 


i7,438 


32,936,125 


1,490,000,888 



APPENDIX. 491 

To Mr. Pitt's financial system there belongs a subject more vital in its ultimate effects 
than any which has been considered, and the whole results of which are far from being 
exhausted. The Suspension of Cash Payments in 1797, already noticed in the trans- 
actions of that year, was a measure of incomparably more importance than any financial 
step of the past or the present century, and, when taken in conjunction with the almost 
total destruction of the Spanish mines in America, in consequence of the revolution 
which broke out in that country in 1808, and the subsequent and unavoidable resump- 
tion of cash payments, by the bill of 1819, in Great Britain, opened the way to a series 
of changes in prices, and, of consequence, in the relative situation, power, and influence 
of the different classess of society, more material than any which had occurred since the 
discovery of the mines of Potosi and Mexico, and to which the future historian will per- 
haps point as the principal cause of the great revolution of England in 1832, and the 
ultimate fall of the British Empire. This important and vital subject, however, so mo- 
mentous in its consequences, so interesting in its details, requires a separate chapter for 
its development, and will more appropriately come to be considered in a future volume, 
when the effects of the momentary changes during the whole war are brought into view, 
and the commencement of another set of causes, having an opposite tendency from the 
rapid decay of the South American mines at its close, is, at the same time, made the 
subject of discussion. 

At present, it only requires to be observed, that the effects of the suspension of cash 
payments, whether good or evil, are not fairly to be ascribed to Mr. Pitt. They were 
not, like the consequences of the issue of assignats in France, the result of a barbarous 
and inhuman confiscation, nor like subsequent changes in this country, of theoretical or 
abstract opinions. They were forced on the British statesman by stern necessity. 
Bankruptcy — irretrievable national bankruptcy stared him in the face if the momentous 
step were any longer delayed. Once taken, the fatal measure could not be recalled ; a 
resumption of cash payments during the continual pressure and vast expenditure of the 
war was out of the question. The nation has had ample experience of the shock it 
occasioned, and the protracted misery it produced, at a subsequent period, even in the 
midst of profound peace. To have attempted it during the whirl and agitation of the 
contest, would at once have prostrated all its resources. 

No doubt, however, can remain, that the suspension of cash payments contributed 
essentially to increase the available resources of Great Britain for carrying on the war. 
An extension of the circulating medium, especially if accompanied by a great and in- 
creasing present expenditure, never fails to have this effect. It is when the subsequent 
stoppage or contraction takes place that the perilous nature of the experiment becomes 
manifest. Great immediate prosperity to all around him is often produced by the prod- 
igality of the spendthrift ; but if he trenches deep, amid this beneficent profusion, on 
the resources of future years, the day of accounting will enevitably come alike to him- 
self and his dependents. In seeking for the causes of the vast and continued warlike 
exertions of England during the war, and of the apparently boundless financial resour- 
ces which appeared to multiply, as if by magic, with every additional demand, just as 
in investigating the causes of the difliculties under which all classes have labored since 
the peace, a prominent place must be assigned to the alterations on the currency, as pro- 
ductive of present strength as they were conducive to future weakness. No financial 
embarrassments of any moment were experienced subsequent to 1797 ; in vain Napo- 
leon waited for the blowing up of the funding system, and the stoppage of England's 
financial resources ; year after year the enormous expenditure continued ; loan after 
loan, with incredible facility, was obtained, and at the close of the war, when the reve- 
nues of France and all the Continental states were fairly exhausted, the treasures of 
Great Britain were poured forth with a profusion unexampled during any former period 
of the struggle. No existing wealth, how great soever, could account for so prodigious 
an expenditure. Its magnitude points to an annual creation of funds, even greater than 
those which were dissipated. It is in the vast impulse given to the circulation by the 
suspension of cash payments, and subsequent extension of paper credit of every descrip- 

This most instructive table proves at a glance how little share either the foreign subsidies or civil expenditure 
had in the vast outlay of seventeen hundred millions during the war. The first was only a thirty-third, the latter 
hardly a fifteenth of the total expenditure. The vast sums absorbed by the debt is a striking feature, amounting to 
raore than a third of the whole ; but it was in a certain degree unavoidable. The cost of the navy, amounting 
to about a fiftii, is not to be regretted, for it gave England the naval dominion of the globe. It was tlie pro 
digious expenditure for the army, amounting to almost a fourth of the whole, which is the real subject of regret 
attended as it was with no ex-ploits worthy of being recorded till the last eight years of the Avar ; coincidm" thus 
with what every other consideration indicates, that it was the niggardly use of that arm, and the ignorance which 
prevailed as to its efficacy, which was tlie real reproach to Mi Pitt's administration. 



492 



APPENDIX, 



tion, that one great cause is to be found of the never-failing resources of Great Britain 
during so long a period. Her fleets connnanded the seas; her commerce extended into 
every quarter of the globe ; her colonies embraced the finest and richest of the tropical 
regions ; and in the centre of this magnificent dominion was the parent state, whose 
quickened and extended circulation spread life and energy through every part of the 
immense fabric. Great as was the increase of paper in circulation after the obligation 
to pay in specie was removed, it was scarcely equal to the simultaneous increase in ex- 
ports, imports, and domestic industry; and almost boundless as was the activity of Brit- 
ish enterprise during those animating years, it must have languished from want of com- 
mensurate credit, if not sustained by the vivifying influence of the extended currency.* 
It is evident, also, that the funding system, with all its dangers and ultimate evils, ot 
which the nation since the peace has had such ample experience, was eminently calcu- 
lated to increase this feverish action of the body politic, and produce a temporary flow 
of prosperity, commensurate, indeed, to the ultimate embarrassments with which it was 
to be attended, but still exciting a degree of transient vigor, which could never have 
arisen under a more cautious and economical system of management. The contracting 
and immediately spending loans, to the amount of thirty or forty millions a year, in ad- 
dition to a revenue raised by taxation or equal amount, had an extraordinary effect in 
encouraging every branch of industry, and enabling the nation to prosper under burdens 
which at first sight would have appeared altogether overwhelming. Government is pro- 
verbially a good paymaster, and never so much so as during the whirl and excitement of 
war. The capital thus sunk in loans was, indeed, withdrawn from the private encour- 
agement of industry, but it was so only in consequence of being directed into a channel 
where its influence in that respect was still more powerful and immediate than it ever 
would have been in the hands of individuals : it was in great part dissipated, indeed, in 
a form which did not reproduce itself, and aflTorded no means of providing for its charges 
hereafter ; but still that circumstance, how fatal soever, to the resources of the state in 
futui-e times, did not diminish the temporary excitement produced by its expenditure. 
Under the combined influence of this vast contraction of loans and extended paper cir- 
culation, the resources of the nation were increased in a rapid and unparalleled progres- 
sion : exports and imports doubled, the produce of taxes was continually rising, prices 



* Tableshowing the anioisnt of Bank Notes in circulation from 1792 to 1815, with the Commercial Paper under 
discount at the Bank during the same period, and the Gold and Silver annually coined at the Bank, with the 
Exports, Imports, and Revenue for the same period. 









•a 


'd 


1 


3 c =■ 


3! c 4 




^ 


„• 


■!| 


S 


■§l^ 







"b o"5 


M 


i 


6^ 

MS 


s 


£■3 
^1 


-3 










_.ia 


> 






s5 




(2 


ca 


11,307,380 


ly 




M 


17?^ 


11,317,380 


_ 


1,171,863 


19,659,358 


24,904,830 


17,864,464 


1,540,145 


1793 


11,388,910 


_ 


_ 


2,747,430 


11,388,910 


19,659,a57 


20,390,179 


17,707,983 


— 


1794 


10,744,020 


— 


— 


2,558,895 


10,744,020 


22,294,893 


26,748,082 


17,899,294 


— 


1795 


14.017,510 


— 


2,946,-500 


493.416 


14,017,-510 


23.736,889 


27,123,338 


18,456,298 


— 


1796 


10,729,520 


— 


3,-505,000 


464,680 


16,729,520 


23,187,319 


30,518,918 


18,548,628 


— 


1797 


9,674,780 


,837,585 


5,a'0,000 


2,600,297 


11,114,120 


21,013.956 


28,917,010 


19,852,646 


— 


1798 


11,647,610 


1,448,220 


4,490,600 


2,967,-565 


13,(^5,830 


25,122,203 


27.317,087 


30,492,995 


— 


1799 


11,494,150 


1,465,G."jO 


5,403,900 


449,963 


12,959,610 


24,066,700 


29,-5,56.637 


a5,311,018 


— 


180U 


15,372,980 


l,471,.^10 


6,401,900 


189,937 


16 R"a pm 


2S.3,-,7.7S1 


.3:1:M .617 


31,069.457 


1.905,438 


1801 


13,578,520 


2,634,7«) 


7,905.100 


450,243 


li;,.)M-.v, 


;,'!, t :",,■ , ^, 


:' ! :--"'^ ':'.-{ 


35,516,3-il 


— 


1802 


12,574,860 


2,612,020 


7,-523,300 


437,019 


l.'>.:- ■- 




■■' • : , u 


37,111,(20 





1803 


12,350,970 


2,968,960 


10,747,600 


5%-,445 


1.-.,^ '. ' 


:'■]-' : 


■ ■••'.- ;.'l 


38,203,937 





1804 


12.54(5,560 


4,.53t,270 


9.982,400 


718,397 


17.""--.- ' 


1 , ' •_ , i 


.;• .(.^ 


45,515,1-52 





1805 


13,011.010 


4,860,160 


11,365,500 


54,668 


17,^7,1,1, 


..'',': 1 - "■ ■ t 


,,,| 


50,-555,190 





1806 


13,27i;s29 


4,458,000 


12,380,100 


40-5,106 


IT," ,' ■' 






54,071,908 





1807 


12,840,790 


4,109,890 


13,484,600 


None. 


;](: ''"1' .■-■! 






59,406,731 





1«8 


14,(193,690 


4,695,170 


12,9.50,100 


, 371,714 


MJ.SS.'-i;:^ 




' ,' ■ "•' 


62,147.601 





1809 


14,241,360 


4,301 ,.500 


15.475,700 


29S,94J; 


18,-t42,860 


' ! - J 




63,879,802 





1810 


1.5,159,180 


5,860,430 


20,070,600 


316,9,36 


21,019.60!) 






(77,825,597 


2.40iim4 . 


1811 


16,246.130 


7,114,090 


I4,a55,400 


,312,263 


23..360,220 


•j,:---m'.~,>>\ 


M iT.M J -2 


65,309.100 


2.474,774 


1812 


15 951,290 


7,457,030 


14,291,600 


None. 


23,408,320 


24,923,-22 
Records 

destroyed 
hv 6i'e 


27;9S2;977 


65,752,125 


2,4:8,799 


1813 


15,407,320 


7,713,610 


12,330,300 


519,722 


23,210,930 




68.302,860 


- 


1814 


1fi,45.-,540 


8,345,510 


13,285,800 


None. 


24,801,080 


32,622,771 


51,3-«,3r8 


70,2-tO,313 


— 


1815 


18,226,4M0 


9,03".,250 


14.917,100 


None. 


27,261,6S0 


.31,Sffl,053 


57,420.437 


72.203,143 


— 


1816 


18,021,220 


9,001,400 


11,416,400 


None. 


27,013,620 


26,374,921 


48,216.186 


62,640,711 


2.648,593 



— Pari. Deb., vii., xiv., xv, ; .4pp, Pari. Hist., xxxv., 1563. Colqwhoun, 99. Morkau's Tables, and Pebrer. 
279. Marshall's Digest, pp. 97, 147, 236. 

Thus, in the twenty-four years from 1792 to 1816, the circulation of England, including the large and small 
notes and commercial pnper discounted at the Hank, was more than tripled ; the revenue tripled, and thoe.\porti 
more than doubled; the imports increased a half The increase of commercial paper from 1792 to ISlfl wax 
sevenfold : indicating, perhaps, the greatest and most rapid vise in mercantile transactions in the whole history 
of the world. 



APPENDIX. 493 

of every sort quickly rose, interest was high, profits still higher, and all who made their 
livelihood by productive industry, or by buying and selling, found themselves in a state 
of extraordinary and increasing prosperity. That these favorable appearances were, to 
a certain extent, delusive ; that the flood of prosperity thus let in upon the state 
was occasioned by exhausting, in a great degree, the reservoirs of wealth for future 
emergencies ; and that a long period of languor and depression was to follow this fever- 
ish and unnatural tract of excitement, is indeed certain ; but still the effect at the moment 
was the same, and in the activity, enterprise, and opulence thus created were to be found 
the most powerful resources for carrying on the contest. How beneficial soever to the 
finances of the state, in future times, it might have been to have raised the whole sup. 
plies by taxation within the year, it was impossible that from such a prudent and parsi- 
monious system there could have arisen the extraordinary vigor and progressive creation 
of wealth which resulted from the lavish expenditure of the national capital in maintain- 
ing the conflict; and but for the profuse outlay, which has been felt as so burdensome 
in subsequent times, the nation might have sunk beneath its enemies, and England, with 
all its glories, been swept for ever from the book of existence. 

Had Mr. Pitt's system, attended as it was, however, with this vast expenditure of 
capital instead of income on the current expenses, made no provision for the ultimate 
redemption of the debt thus contracted, it would, notwithstanding the prodigious and 
triumphant results with which it vvas attended, have been liable to very severe repre- 
hension. But every view of his financial policy must be imperfect and erroneous, if 
the sinking fund, which constituted so essential a part of the system, is not taken into 
consideration. Its great results have now been completely demonstrated by experience ; 
and there can be no question that, if it had been adhered to, the whole debt might have 
been extinguished with ease before the year 1840 : that is, in nearly as short a time 
as it was created. Great as were the burdens of the war, therefore, he had established 
the means of rendering them only temporary ; durable as the results of its successes have 
proved, the price at which they were purchased admitted, according to his plan, of a 
rapid liquidation. It is the subsequent abandonment of the sinking fund, in consequence 
of the unnecessary and imprudent remission of so large a proportion of the indirect taxes, 
which is the real evil that has undone the mighty structure of former wisdom ; and for 
a slight and questionable present advantage, rendered the debt, when undergoing a rapid 
and successful process of liquidation, a lasting and hopeless burden on the state. The 
magnitude of this change is too great to be accounted for by the weakness or errors of 
individuals : the misfortune thus inflicted upon the country too irreparable to be ascribed 
to the improvidence or short-sighted policy of subsequent governments. Without excul- 
pating the members of the administrations who did not manfully resist, and, if they could 
not prevent, at least denounce the growing delusion, it may be safely affirmed that the 
great weight of the responsibility must be borne by the nation itself. If the people of 
Great Britain have now a debt of seven hundred and seventy millions, with hardly any 
fund for its redemption, they have to blame, not Mr. Pitt, who was compelled to con- 
tract it in the course of a desperate struggle for the national independence, and left 
them the means of its rapid and certain liquidation, but the blind Democratic spirit, 
which first, from its excesses in a neighboring state, made its expenditure unavoidable, 
and then, from its impatience of present sacrifice at home, destroyed the means of its 
discharge. " All nations," says M. Toqueville, in his profound work on American 
Democracy, " which have made a great and lasting impression on human aflfairs, from 
the Romans to the English, have been governed by aristocratic bodies : the instability 
and impatience of the Democratic spirit render the states in which it is the ruling power 
incapable of durable achievements."* The abandonment of a system fraught with such 
incalculable future advantages as the sinking fund, but requiring a present sacrifice for 
its maintenance, affords decisive evidence that the balance of the Constitution had 
become overloaded in reality, before it was so in form, on the popular side, and that 
the period had arrived when an ignorant impatience of taxation was to bring about that 
disregard of everything but present objects which is the invariable characteristic of the 
majority of mankind. With the prevalence of aristocratic rule in England, that noble 
monument of national foresight and resolution progressively prospered : with its decline 
the efficiency of the great engine of redemption was continually impaired' amid the 
general influence of the unthinking multitude ; and at length, upon its subversion by the 
great change of 1832, it finally, to all practical purposes, was destroyed. Irretrievable 
ultimate ruin has thus been brought upon the state ; for not only is the burden now fixed 

* Toqueville, ii„ 237. 



494 APPENDIX. 

upon its resources inconsistent witli the permanent maintenance of the national inde. 
pendence, but the steady rule has been terminated, under which alone its liquidation 
could have been expected. But if toe sun of British greatness is setting in the Old, it 
is, from the same cause, rising in renovated lustre in the New World. The impatience 
of the Democratic spirit, both in the British isles and on the shores of tlie Atlantic; the 
energy it developes, the insatiable desires it creates, the national burdens which it per 
petuatcs, the convulsions which it induces, all conspire to impel the ceaseless wave of 
emigration to the West ; and the very distresses consequent on an advanced stage of 
existence force the power and vigor of civilization into the primeval recesses of the 
forest. In two centuries the name of England may be extinct, or survive only under the 
shadow of ancient renown ; but a hundred and fifty millions of men in North America 
will be speaking its language, reading its authors, glorying in its descent. Nations, 
like individuals, were not destined for immortality ; in their virtues, equally as their 
>ices, their grandeur as their weakness, they bear in their bosoms the seeds of mortality ; 
but in the passions which elevate them to greatness, equally as those which hasten tlieir 
decay, is to be discerned the unceasing operation of those principles at once of corrup. 
tion and resurrection which are combined in humanity, and which, universal in commu- 
nities as in single men, compensate the necessarj' decline of nations by tlie vital firo 
which has given an undecaying youth to tho human race. 



e?) BD-181 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 



FRENCH REVOLUTION 



IN 1789, TO THE 



RESTORATION OF THE BOURBONS 



IN 18 15. 



BY 


ARCHIBALD ALISON, 

ADVOCATE 

NE W-FORK: 


F. R. S. E. 


J. \\ 


•INC HESTER, NEW WORLD 

30 ANN-STREET. 


PRESS, 


-IICE, CORNER FULTON AND NASSAU: J. C. WADLEIGH, 459 BROAD- 
• AY: BRAIN »RD Sc CO. BOSTON: ZIE3ER & CO. PHILADELPHIA: WILLIAM | 
'-' VLOE, BALTIMORE : GEO. JONES, ALBANY: J. B. STEEL, NEW 
ORLEANS: AND BY BOOKSELLERS fc PERIODICAL AGENTS 
THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. 



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